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THE 

AMERICAN    REVOLUTION 
Volume  III 


By  SIR  G.  0.  TREVELYAN,  Bart.,  O.M. 


THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION 

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GEORGE  THE  THIRD   AND    CHARLES   FOX 

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NEW  YORK:  LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO. 


THE 


AMERICAN    REVOLUTION 


BY  THE   RIGHT  HON. 

SIR  GEORGE  OTTO  TREVELYAN,  BART, 

AUTHOR   OF   "  THE   LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF   LORD    MACAULAY  " 
AND   "  THE   EARLY   HISTORY  OF  CHARLES  JAMES  FOX  " 


NEW  EDITION 


Volume  III 


LONGMANS,   GREEN,   AND    CO. 

FOURTH    AVENUE   ©"   30TH    SIREET,   NEW  YORK 

LONDON,  BOMBAY,  CALCUTIA,  AND  MADRAS 

1917 


Copyright,  1903,  by 
LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO. 

CorVRIGHT,    1905,    BY 

LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO. 


ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED. 


First  Edition  (Part  II.  Vol.  2),  printed  June,  1903. 
Reprinted  January,  1904. 

New  Edition  (Volume  3),  revised  and  rearranged  January,  1905 
Reprinted,  with  revisions,  September,  1907;     May,  1908;     Sep- 
tember, 1909,  and  January,  1915. 
New  Edition,  revised,  April,  1917. 


Nortoonli  y«88 

J.  B.  Cushinp  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Bmlth  Co, 

Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


-~  .^  ^.-  ^ 


CONTENTS 

OF  VOLUME   III 


CHAPTER  XXI 

The  Forts  on  the  Hudson 

Defeat  of  the  Americans,  and  capture  of  Fort  Washington 
Treatment  of  the  Prisoners 
Washington's  distress  of  mind 

Lord  Cornwallis        .... 
Capture  of  Fort  Lee 
American  Retreat  through  the  Jerseys 
Washington  crosses  the  Delaware    . 
Miserable  condition  of  his  Army 

The  Apathy  of  New  Jersey 
Hessian  Outrages    .... 
Contrast  between  Howe  and  Wellington 

CHAPTER  XXII 

Charles  Lee's  early  history 
His  attitude  towards  his  brother  officers  . 
His  disobedience  to  Washington's  orders 
Lee  and  Colonel  Reed     .... 


Washington's  self-control 
The  Condition  of  Philadelphia 
Howe  goes  into  winter  quarters 
Lee  and  Harcourt    . 
Sullivan  joins  Washington 
Colonel  Knox  and  Colonel  Glover 
Temper  of  the  American  soldiers 


FACE 

I 
S 
9 

12 

13 
17 

18 
21 
23 

27 
29 
36 


41 

45 
49 
54 

56 
59 
63 
67 
71 
73 
78 


80S131 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

Distribution  of  the  Royal  Army ;  Rail  and  his  brigade 

The  Delaware  river 

Washington's  Intelligence  Department    . 
He  resolves  to  take  the  offensive     . 


Washington's  plan  of  action    .... 

Crossing  the  Delaware 

The  state  of  things  inside  Trenton 

The  Battle      ....... 

Surrender  of  the  Hessians        .... 

Return  of  the  Americans  ;  the  losses  of  either  party 
Reception  of  the  news  in  Europe     . 
Effect  of  the  Battle  on  America 

Washington  obtains  supplies  of  men  and  money 

He  re-crosses  the  Delaware  into  New  Jersey    . 

Cornwallis  comes  Southward  in  force 

Grave  peril  of  the  American  Army  ;  Washington's  flank  march 

Princeton         ....... 

Washington's  march  to  Morristown 
Howe  concentrates  his  Army  and  abandons  the  open  country 
The  increase  to  Washington's  reputation  and  authority  . 
He  re-organises  the  Army 


89 
91 
95 

97 

99 

102 

103 
no 

I  T2 

118 

124 
128 


129 

133 

138 

139 
142 
144 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

Apprehensions  entertained  about  the  bearing  of  the  American 

question  on  English  Liberty 
Chatham  ;  Burke ;  Horace  Walpole 
The  Jacobites  ..... 

Count  de  Maltzan  and  Frederic  the  Great 
Feeling  in  France    ..... 
The  modern  American  view    . 
The  Duke  of  Richmond  .... 


148 
153 
155 
157 
159 
161 
162 


Difficulty  of  ascertaining  the  condition  of  contemporary  English 
opinion    ........•• 


163 


CONTENTS 


Vll 


PAGE 

The  London  Press  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .165 

Immunity  enjoyed  by  the  Opposition  writers  .         .         .         .168 

The  King  and  the  Newspapers 172 

Powerful  criticism  upon  the  conduct  of  the  war        .         .         .176 
The  feeling  in  England  towards  the  Revolutionary  Generals    .     178 

Popular  suspicion  of  Lord  Bute's  influence       ....     181 
English  prejudice  against  the  Scotch 184 


CHAPTER   XXV 


The  City  of  London 

The  Press  for  Seamen 

Feeling  of  business  men  in  the  City 

Opinion  in  Birmingham  . 


Hon.  Augustus  Keppel  and  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst 
Conway  ........ 

Chatham  and  his  son       ..... 

Lord  Effingham  and  Lord  Frederic  Cavendish 
Granville  Sharp  and  John  Cartvvright 
The  growing  unpopularity  of  the  War 


190 

192 
199 

201 

202 
203 
205 
207 
210 
215 


CHAPTER  XXVI 


The  talk  of  society  ...... 

The  Loyalist  exiles ...... 

Samuel  Curwen        ...... 

Poverty  of  the    refugees ;    their  regrets    for   home,  and 
social  discomfort       ..... 

Their  distress  at  the  hostility  between  the  two  nations 

Anxiety  about  the  future  of  England 
Contemporary  Historians  ;  William  Robertson 
David  Hume;  Edward  Gibbon        .... 
Mrs.  Macaulay 


their 


220 
226 
227 

229 
234 

236 

239 

241 

246 


Viii  CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Edmund   Burke   as    the  leading  authority  on   the  American 

Revolution 249 

The  pamphleteers  :   Dean  Tucker ;   Shebbeare          .          .          .  253 

Doctor  Johnson  ;  ••  Taxation  no  Tyranny  "      ....  256 

John  Wesley  at  first  in  favour  of  conciliating  America      .         .  259 

Appearance  of  the  "  Calm  Address  " 260 

Wesley  becomes  the  centre  of  a  fierce  Controversy  .         .         .  264 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

The  religious  aspect  of  the  American  dispute  ....  266 

Ecclesiastical  institutions  in  the  Colonies          ....  267 
Evils  and  inconveniences  arising  to  the  English  Church  from 

the  want  of  Episcopal  supervision  in  America  .         .         .  272 

The  Churches  in  the  Northern  provinces          ....  275 

The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  280 

The  Question  of  a  Bishop  in  America:  Jonathan  Mayhew       .  283 

Part  taken  by  the  Whig  clergy  when  the  War  broke  out .         .  289 

The  personal  influence  of  the  Ministers   .....  292 

Episcopalian  Clergymen           .......  296 

Episcopalian  laymen  ;  George  Washington      ....  302 

Course  adopted  by  the  Virginian  assembly       ....  304 

Religious  equality  everywhere  established         ....  306 

John  Wesley's  Bishops 3°? 

Final  Solution  of  the  difficulties  which  had  beset  the  Episcopal 

Church  in  America  .       _ 3'° 


CONTENTS 


IX 


APPENDICES 

I.  Extracts  from  Colonel  Markham's  Journal 

II.  An  Imaginary  Conversation    . 

III.  The  English  Church  in  Virginia     . 

IV.  Dean  Tucker  on  American  Bishops 


Index 


PAGE 
316 

319 


At  the  end  of  the  volume 

Map  of  the  Northern  part  of  New  Jersey,  and  of  New  York  and 
its  Environs. 


NOTE 

The  third  volume  of  the  "  American  Revolution  "  has  been  altered, 
and  reprinted,  as  a  consequence  of  the  withdrawal  of  certain  matter 
which,  though  not  irrelevant,  was  somewhat  in  excess  of  the  general 
scheme  of  the  history.  The  four  volumes  of  the  ''American  Revo- 
lution," and  the  two  volumes  of "  George  the  Third  and  Charles 
Fox,"  are  now  in  their  final  shape  and  will  never  again  be  retouched 
by  their  author,  nor  (he  sincerely  hopes)  by  anyone  else  after  he  himself 
has  passed  away.  Those  six  volumes,  as  read  together,  tell  the 
whole  story,  in  America  and  in  Europe,  from  the  imposition  of  the 
Customs  Duties  by  the  British  Parliament  in  June  1767,  down  to  the 
fall  of  Lord  North's  Ministry  in  Marcli  1782.  The  story  is  complete  ; 
it  has  been  written  with  an  honest  desire  to  be  fair  and  impartial ; 
it  may  be  read  with  self-respect,  and  mutual  respect,  both  by  English- 
men and  Americans  ;  and  it  throws  a  bright  and  striking  light  on 
the  motives  of  the  war  in  which  all  English-speaking  peoples  are 
henceforward  fighting  shoulder  to  shoulder.  The  descendants  of 
the  farmers  who  turned  out  to  defend  their  country  at  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill,  and  the  descendants  of  the  adversaries  who  did  their 
best  to  defeat  them  in  honourable  and  chivalrous  battle,  are  shocked 
and  revolted  by  the  cruel  and  high-handed  theory  that  the  alleged 
resistance  in  arms  to  the  invader  of  certain  Belgian  civilians  justified 
the  devastation,  the  plunder,  the  torture,  and  the  enslavement  of 

Belgium. 

George  Otto  Trevelyan. 

Welcombe, 

Stratford -on- Avon, 

May,  1917. 


THE   AMERICAN    REVOLUTION 


CHAPTER   XXI 

FORT    WASHINGTON.       THROUGH    THE    JERSEYS. 
SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    INHABITANTS 

The  war  was  soon  transported  into  the  heart  of  New 
Jersey ;  for  the  British  Commander-in-Chief  had  very 
speedily,  and  very  successfully,  completed  the  business 
that  detained  him  on  the  east  shore  of  the  Hudson 
river.  Those  arrangements  which  Washington  had 
made,  with  the  view  of  encountering  all  possible  emer- 
gencies,^ were  workmanlike,  and  might  even  be  pro- 
nounced faultless,  save  and  except  in  one  important 
particular.  Public  attention  in  the  States  had  been 
keenly  interested  by  a  scheme  of  defence  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Hudson, — the  great  water  highway  of 
New  York  State.  Four  or  five  miles  north  of  Haerlem 
in  the  island  of  Manhattan,  at  a  point  where  the  current 
was  not  more  than  a  mile  in  breadth,  a  work  called 
Fort  Washington  had  been  erected  on  a  bluff  that  over- 
hung the  river.  On  the  opposite  bank  stood  P'ort  Lee ; 
and  up-stream,  on  the  safe  side  of  these  strongholds, 
the  American  authorities,  with  energy  much  inferior  to 
Arnold's,  had  collected  and  armed  a  small  flotilla.  For 
further  security,  athwart  the  river  and  between  the 
forts,  a  barricade  had  been  constructed  of  which  all 
good  patriots  spoke  with  pride  and  confidence  under 
the  imposing  title  of  the  "sunken    chevaux-de-f  rise ;  " 

'  Washinrjton's  disposition  of  his  forces  is  shortly  described  on  page 
337  of  the  last  vulunie. 

vol..  HI,  B 


2  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

although  sceptics  alleged  that  Washington's  engineers 
had  shirked  the  difficulty  of  extending  it  across  that 
part  of  the  channel  where  the  current  ran  strongest. 
On  the  sixth  of  October  three  British  men-of-war  came 
up  the  Hudson  with  a  southerly  wind,  under  a  smart, 
and  not  altogether  ineffective,  fire  from  the  batteries. 
They  sailed  through,  or  over,  or,  (as  was  strongly  sus- 
pected afterwards,)  round,  the  chevaux-de-frise,  without 
perceiving  that  any  such  obstacle  existed;  and,  when 
they  had  reached  the  upper  waters,  they  made  very 
short  work  of  the  American  naval  preparations.  They 
drove  ashore,  or  captured,  four  or  five  ships  and  galleys  ; 
and  they  sank  a  sloop  containing  an  ingenious  machine 
for  blowing  up  the  British  fleet.  The  inventor  had 
designed  his  contrivance  to  act  under  water ;  and  under 
water  it  went,  and  to  this  hour  it  there  remains.  The 
joyous  and  elastic  national  temperament,  which  has 
done  so  much  towards  carrying  America  through  many 
a  crisis,  discerned  in  this  untoward  event  nothing  worse 
than  a  presage  of  future  triumphs.  Congress  desired 
General  Washington,  now  that  the  British  ships  were 
entrapped  above  his  forts,  to  take  good  care  they  never 
either  got  back  again  themselves,  nor  were  reinforced 
from  the  main  fleet  which  lay  below.  But,  in  plain 
truth,  both  before  and  afterwards.  Lord  Howe's  captains 
made  no  account  whatever  of  the  perils  which  beset 
them  in  their  passage  up  and  down  the  river.  An  offi- 
cer who  did  not  mind  a  few  holes  in  his  sails,  and  a  very 
few  casualties  in  his  crew,  so  far  as  the  safety  of  his 
vessel  was  concerned  might  travel  the  Hudson  as 
securely  as  the  Humber ;  and  much  more  securely  than, 
without  the  aid  of  a  good  local  pilot,  he  would  have 
threaded  the  sand-banks  of  the  Mersey. 

The  maintenance,  or  abandonment,  of  the  two 
American  stations  on  the  Hudson  river  was  therefore 
a  problem  to  be  determined  in  no  sense  by  naval, 
but  exclusively  by  military,  considerations.  Nathanael 
Greene  was  entrusted  with  the  care  of  both  the  places, 
which  were  garrisoned  by  near  five  thousand  men,  of 


FORT    WASHINGTON  3 

whom  somewhat  the  larger  part  were  at  Fort  Washing- 
ton. To  keep  that  force  cooped  up  on  Manhattan  Island, 
without  any  reasonable  hope  of  escape  in  case  of  an 
attack  which  it  was  impossible  successfully  to  resist,  was 
an  awful  risk  to  run.  Mount  Washington,  (as  the 
general  after  whom  it  was  named  sometimes  called  it,) 
was  not  a  fortress  which,  like  Quebec,  could  only  be 
captured  by  a  regular  siege,  or  reduced  by  famine.  It 
was  an  open  work,  bordered  on  three  sides  by  heights, 
and  of  small  extent,  which  a  few  hours  of  shell-fire  would 
render  quite  untenable.  It  was,  indeed,  surrounded  by 
an  exterior  position  partially  fortified,  and  so  strong  by 
nature  that  one  of  General  Howe's  officers  asserted  that 
all  the  world  could  not  have  taken  it  from  ten  thousand 
Englishmen. 1  But  that  outer  circuit  of  defence  had  a 
front  of  more  than  six  miles ;  Colonel  Magaw,  the 
American  who  was  in  charge  on  the  spot,  had  barely 
the  fourth  of  ten  thousand  men  at  his  disposal ;  and  that 
force,  while  utterly  inadequate  to  the  task  imposed  upon 
it,  was  much  larger  than  Washington  could  afford  to 
throw  away  in  order  to  comply  with  the  behests,  and 
save  the  self-respect,  of  Congress. 

The  politicians,  who  sate  at  the  Board  of  war  in  Phila- 
delphia, had  planned  the  operations  of  that  summer 
with  the  declared  object  of  holding  New  York  City,  and 
barring  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  river  against  a  British 
fleet ;  and  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Washington  would  be, 
in  their  eyes,  nothing  short  of  an  admission  that  their 
campaign  had  finally  and  totally  failed.  Congress,  bent 
on  keeping  the  place,  proclaimed  their  opinion  by  a  vote 
which  was  equivalent  to  a  peremptory  injunction  ;  and 

1  "About  noon  a  young  officer,  smartly  dressed  and  well  mounted,  rode 
up  with  his  horse  in  a  foam,  and,  ]5ulling  out  his  watch,  observed  that  he 
had  scarcely  been  an  hour  in  coming  from  New  York.  He  was  a  genuine, 
smooth-faced,  fresh-coloured  Englishman  ;  and  from  the  elegance  of  his 
horse,  and  importance  of  his  manner,  I  supposed  him  to  be  a  person  of 
family  and  consideration.  '  Jiecket,'  (said  he,  looking  around  him,)  'this 
is  a  damned  strong  piece  of  ground.  Ten  thousand  of  luir  men  would  de- 
fend it  against  the  world.'  "  Alemoirs  of  a  Life  chicjly  passed  in  J'ennsyl- 
vunia  ;  chapter  viii, 

B  2 


4  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

that  injunction  Greene,  for  his  part,  was  keenly  desirous 
to  obey.  He  was  in  love  with  Fort  Washington.  To 
blockade  it  effectively,  (according  to  his  computation,) 
would  cost  the  hostile  army  a  number  of  troops  at  least 
double  what  would  suffice  for  the  American  garrison ;  ^ 
and  if,  instead  of  an  investment,  the  Enghsh  preferred 
to  try  an  assault  by  force,  he  bade  them  a  hearty  wel- 
come. For  Howe  was  not  the  only  general  whose  tac- 
tics were  injuriously  modified  by  a  false  analogy  drawn 
from  the  recollections  of  Bunker's  Hill.  Nathanael 
Greene  was  still  under  an  illusion  that  his  countrymen, 
behind  a  breastwork,  could  inflict  cruel  punishment  on 
an  attacking  force  under  all  circumstances,  and  against 
any  odds.  His  notion,  (we  are  told,)  was  that,  after 
slaughtering  a  host  of  the  enemy,  the  Americans  might 
methodically  withdraw  into  the  citadel  of  Fort  Wash- 
ington :  and  then,  provided  each  had  killed  his  man, 
they  might  be  snugly  shipped  across  the  Hudson,  and 
rejoin  their  main  army  with  flying  colours.^ 

Such,  and  so  sanguine,  were  General  Greene's  antici- 
pations ;  but,  after  all,  Greene  did  not  command  the 
Continental  army.  The  occasion  was  one  on  which 
Washington  ought  to  have  enforced  •  his  own  views 
against  his  mihtary  subordinate,  and  his  political 
superiors  ;  and  concerning  the  nature  of  those  views 
there  exists  no  doubt  at  all.  On  the  eighth  of  Novem- 
ber the  Commander-in-Chief  wrote  to  Greene  that,  inas- 
much as  British  vessels  could  not  be  prevented  from 
passing  up  the  stream,  and  British  troops  possessed  all 
the  surrounding  country,  no  benefit  could  be  expected 
from  the  retention  of  the  fortress  on  Manhattan  Island. 
"I  am  therefore  incHned  to  think,"  (he  continued,) 
"  that  it  will  not  be  prudent  to  hazard  the  men  and 
stores  at  Mount  Washington  ;  but,  as  you  are  on  the 
spot,  I  leave  it  to  you  to  give  such  orders  as  to  evacu- 
ating Mount  Washington  as  you  may  judge  best,  and 
so  far  revoking  the  order  given  to  Colonel  Magaw  to 

1  Greene  to  Washington  ;  Fort  Lee,  November  9,  1776. 

2  Pennsylvanian  Memoirs  ;  chapter  vii. 


FORT    WASHINGTON  5 

defend  it  to  the  last."  Having  despatched  those  lines,  — 
which  indicated  a  confidence  in  Greene  that  for  once 
was  misplaced,  and  a  diffidence  of  himself,  —  Washing- 
ton departed  northwards  on  a  visit  to  General  Heath's 
quarters,  and  minutely  examined  the  site  for  a  new 
fortress  near  West  Point.  The  orders  which  he  left 
with  Greene  were,  (to  use  his  own  epithet,)  discretion- 
ary ;  ^  and  the  person  upon  whom  the  chief  blame  for 
those  calamities,  which  promptly  supervened,  should 
rest  has  been  a  theme  of  frequent  controversy.  All  that 
can  certainly  be  said  on  the  matter  is  that  two  very 
good  generals  contrived  between  them  to  commit  a 
very  signal  blunder ;  and  that  Washington,  as  his  rule 
was,  insisted  on  assuming  the  responsibility  for  every- 
thing which  went  wrong  under  his  auspices. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  November  Howe  sent  his  Adjutant 
General  to  demand  the  surrender  of  Fort  Washington, 
and  reminded  Colonel  Magaw  that,  when  an  intrench- 
ment  had  been  carried  by  assault,  it  was  difficult  to 
prevent  too  free  a  use  of  the  bayonet  during  the  first 
moments  of  victory.  Magaw  returned  an  answer  which 
Washington  praised  as  a  spirited  refusal ;  ^  but  the  de- 
fiant tone  of  the  reply  was  in  excess  of  what  the  sum- 
mons provoked,  and  most  certainly  beyond  anything 
that  the  issue  of  the  conflict  justified.  The  American 
commandant  interpreted  the  British  general's  humane 
and  reasonable  warning  as  a  threat  that  the  garrison 
would  be  massacred;  and,  with  a  glowing  appeal  to  the 
justice  of  his  cause,  he  proclaimed  his  intention  of  de- 
fending the  post  to  the  very  last  extremity.  That  ex- 
tremity was  not  far  off.  At  noon  on  the  next  day, 
under  cover  of  a  heavy  cannonade  which  had  begun  in 
the  early  morning,  the  British  army  stormed  in  from 
every  quarter  except  the  west.  To  the  south  in  the 
direction  of  Haerlem,  Lord  Percy,  on  a  horse  which  soon 
was  twice  wounded,  led  his  command  into  action,  and 

'  George  Washington  to  John  Augustine  Washington  ;  Hackensac, 
November  19,  1776. 

2  Washington  to  the  President  of  Congress  ;  November  16,  1776. 


6  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

came  into  collision  with  an  advanced  party  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, so  isolated  and  exposed  that  there  was  an  interval 
of  two  miles  between  them  and  their  nearest  supports. 
Into  this  gap  Howe  despatched  three  regiments  of  in- 
fantry in  boats  across  the  Haerlem  river.  The  Forty- 
second  Highlanders,  who  were  the  earliest  on  shore, 
swarmed  up  a  steep  path  under  a  deadly  lire,  which  laid 
low  nearly  a  hundred  men  and  officers  ;  beat  off  their 
immediate  adversaries  ;  and,  scouring  fleetly  over  hill  and 
dale,  took  Lord  Percy's  opponents  in  the  rear,  and  se- 
cured then  and  there  a  considerable  number  of  prisoners. 
One  of  those  prisoners,  who  was  a  cool  fellow,  remarked 
on  a  circumstance  which  he  noticed  even  in  that  moment 
of  hurry  and  dismay.  "  Not  less  than  ten  guns  were 
discharged  with  their  muzzles  towards  us,  within  the 
distance  of  forty  or  fifty  yards ;  and  some  were  let  off 
within  twenty.  Luckily  for  us,  it  was  not  our  riflemen 
to  whom  we  were  targets.  I  observed  they  took  no 
aim,  and  the  moment  of  presenting  and  firing  was  the 
same."  ^ 

The  Royal  soldiers,  however  wild  might  be  their  shoot- 
ing, everywhere  showed  great  alacrity  in  coming  to  close 
quarters  with  the  enemy.  General  Mathew  and  Lord 
CornwalHs  brought  seven  battahons  over  Haerlem  creek 
in  flat-bottomed  boats ;  made  good  their  footing  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  Manhattan  Island ;  and  pressed  stead- 
ily inland,  losing  men,  and  capturing  positions.  To  the 
north  of  the  fort  the  struggle  was  severe  and  bloody ; 
for  there  the  Provincials  were  in  some  strength,  and  on 
ground  exceptionally  suited  to  their  method  of  warfare. 
General  Knyphausen  and  his  Hessians  advanced  from 
King's  Bridge  in  two  columns ;  waded  through  a  deep 
marsh  ;  and  climbed  a  precipitous  rocky  hill  which  rose 
behind  it.  The  acclivity  was  so  steep  in  places  that  the 
men  had  to  pull  themselves  up  by  aid  of  the  bushes. 
They  were  in  heavy  marching  order  ;  and  that,  in  the 
case  of  German  infantry,  was  heavy  indeed.  A  grena- 
dier went  into  action  in  a  high  cap,  fronted  with  an  im- 

^  Pennsylvanian  Memoirs  ;  chapter  viii. 


FORT    WASHINGTON  y 

mense  brass  plate  ;  a  very  long-skirted  coat ;  a  canteen 
which  held  a  gallon ;  and  a  sword  of  enormous  size, 
that  had  never  killed  anything  except  the  calf  or  pig  of 
a  Loyalist  farmer.  But  beneath  these  absurd  trappings 
there  was,  on  this  occasion,  no  lack  of  martial  ardour. 
The  generals  themselves  led  the  way,  pulling  down 
fences  with  their  own  hands ;  and  the  private  men 
never  turned  back,  but  went  forwards  and  upwards 
wherever  they  could  find  a  chance.  At  length  they 
stood  victorious  on  the  top,  in  sorely  diminished  num- 
ber ;  for  between  the  foot  and  the  summit,  more  than 
three  hundred  of  them  had  been  killed  or  wounded.^ 

Their  loss,  (wrote  one  of  their  officers,)  was  far  greater 
than  that  of  the  adversary,  from  the  manner  in  which 
the  rebels  fought.  They  lay  singly  behind  stone-walls, 
and  boulders,  and  the  trunks  of  trees  which  had  been 
felled  as  obstacles ;  they  shot  at  long  range,  and  with 
certainty ;  and  they  ran  away  very  fast  as  soon  as  they 
had  discharged  their  weapons.  The  Germans,  on  the 
other  hand,  could  not  shoot  a  third  so  far  ;  and  still  less 
were  they  able  to  catch  up  their  opponents  when  it  came 
to  running.  ^  Nevertheless  the  Provincial  skirmishers, 
with  whatever  agility  they  might  retreat,  very  soon 
reached  the  further  end  of  their  course.  By  this  time 
the  Americans  had  been  driven  inwards,  from  far  and 
near,  over  the  whole  circle  of  the  battle.  Breathless 
and  disheartened,  they  poured  into  the  fort,  and  hud- 

1  According  to  one  most  competent  and  trustworthy  observer,  Knyp- 
hausen's  people  were  even  more  heavily  laden  than  with  the  ordinary  bur- 
den of  their  regulation  accoutrements.  "  Every  jirivate,"  wrote  Colonel 
Enoch  Markham,  "  carried  a  fascine  before  him  in  one  hand,  while  he 
scaled  with  the  other.  In  some  places  only  one  man  could  get  up  at  a 
time,  who  assisted  the  man  in  the  rear  with  his  vacant  hand.  The  Hes- 
sians and  Waldecks  most  deservedly  received  the  highest  praise  for  this 
action."  Another  English  officer,  (employing  one  of  those  not  very  rec- 
ondite classical  allusions  which,  even  in  the  less  learned  professions,  were 
a  mannerism  of  that  day,)  said  that  Hannibal,  in  his  passage  over  the 
Alps,  could  not  have  met  with  ground  more  formidable  than  what  fell  to 
the  lot  of  the  Germans  to  assail. 

*  Account  by  the  Quartermaster  of  the  Grenadier  Battalion  von  Min- 
nigerode. 


8  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

died  together  behind  ramparts  which  would  become 
nothing  better  than  the  walls  of  a  slaughter-house  as 
soon  as  the  British  could  bring  up  a  single  battery  of 
howitzers.  The  affair  in  the  commencement  had  re- 
sembled the  escalade  of  the  heights  of  Spicheren ;  and 
it  now  assumed  the  complexion  of  a  miniature  Sedan. 
Colonel  Magaw,  as  his  superior  officer  ought  long  ere 
this  to  have  anticipated,  was  forced  to  abandon  all  hope 
of  cutting  a  path  through  the  serried  array  of  excellent 
troops  by  whom  he  was  surrounded  ;  —  even  apart  from 
the  consideration  that  the  breadth  and  depth  of  the 
•Hudson  river  in  any  case  lay  between  him  and  safety. 

Nothing  now  remained  for  the  Americans  except  an 
immediate  and  unconditional  surrender.  The  garrison, 
—  to  the  number  of  nearer  three,  than  two,  thousand, — 
marched  out  between  the  ranks  of  the  regiments  Rail 
and  von  Lossberg ;  laid  down  their  arms ;  and  gave  up 
their  white,  and  yellow,  and  light  blue  standards.  Al- 
ready, on  Long  Island,  the  Germans  had  captured  a 
flag  of  bright  scarlet  damask,  inscribed  with  the  motto 
"  Liberty  ;  "  a  word  which  to  all  these  high-born  servants 
of  Grand  Dukes,  and  Landgraves,  and  Prince  Electors, 
seemed  wonderfully  out  of  place  upon  military  colours. 
And  the  visible  disdain  with  which  now,  at  Fort  Wash- 
ington, the  victors  regarded  the  somewhat  fantastic 
banners  of  a  brand-new  republic,  was  remembered  when, 
after  an  interval  of  only  six  weeks,  the  same  two  Hes- 
sian regiments  again  took  their  share,  —  with  the  parts 
reversed, — in  a  very  similar  ceremony.  Howe,  hand- 
somely enough,  renamed  the  fortress  after  the  German 
commander,  to  whose  soldiers  it  was  generally  admitted 
that  the  honours  of  the  day  had  fallen.  The  ill  fortune 
which  pursued  our  foreign  auxiliaries,  on  all  subsequent 
occasions  when  they  were  called  upon  to  act  indepen- 
dently, was  so  persistent  and  so  notorious,  that  the  char- 
ity of  history  has  made  the  very  utmost  of  their  behaviour 
at  Fort  Washington.  When  the  report  of  their  exploit 
reached  Waldeck  and  Hesse  Cassel,  their  respective 
Sovereigns  felt  a  thrill   of   conscious    honesty    at   the 


FORT    WASHINGTON  9 

thought  that  their  royal  brother  of  England  had  already 
got  some  value  for  his  money.  But,  however  joyful 
might  be  the  sensations  excited  in  the  lesser  capitals  of 
Western  Germany  by  the  news  that  Germans  had  de- 
feated and  captured  Englishmen,  pride  and  satisfaction 
were  by  no  means  universal  in  London.  The  glory  ac- 
quired by  Colonel  Rail,  (said  Edmund  Burke,)  had  no 
charms  for  him  ;  nor  had  he  learned  to  delight  at  find- 
ing a  Fort  Knyphausen  in  the  heart  of  the  British  do- 
minions. 

Except  for  prisoners,  the  loss  of  the  Americans  was 
small.  Colonel  Markham,  who  went  carefully  over  the 
ground  when  the  action  was  concluded,  saw  very  few 
of  their  dead  bodies.  The  British  never  had  the  inten- 
tion, —  and  in  the  heat  of  success  did  not  feel  the 
smallest  inclination,  —  to  end  a  gallant  fight  with  a  scene 
of  butchery.  A  Pennsylvanian  captain,  who  was  taken 
early  in  the  affair  by  the  Forty-second  Highlanders, 
published  a  HfeUke  account  of  what  happened  on  the 
sixteenth  of  November,  and  the  days  thereupon  ensuing. 
It  is  an  account  which  Englishmen  may  read  with  pleas- 
ure.^ This  was  the  first  complete  and  crushing  victory 
obtained  by  our  troops  since  the  commencement  of  a 
war  which  in  their  view  was  a  rebellion.  Military  cus- 
tom had  long  ago  established  humane,  and  often  ami- 
cable, relations  between  conquerors  and  vanquished  in 
the  vicissitudes  of  a  struggle  conducted  on  both  sides 
by  regular  European  armies  ;  but  the  notion  that  Amer- 
ican insurgents  possessed  a  title  to  friendly  treatment, 

1  Valuable  testimony  to  the  authority  of  this  narrative  has  recently  been 
made  public.  In  1822  Colonel  Cadvvaladcr,  who  had  been  second  in 
command  under  Magaw,  was  requested  by  Timothy  Pickering,  another 
veteran  of  the  Revolution,  to  write  down  his  reminiscences  of  Fort 
Washington.  The  old  man  replied  that,  after  forty-five  years,  his  memory 
was  dim.  "  I  shall  however,"  he  said,  "  avail  myself  of  a  Statement,  which 
I  made  in  the  year  181 1,  at  the  Request  of  a  Friend  of  mine,  formerly  a 
Captain  in  the  3rd  Pennsylvania  Battalion  which  I  commanded  in  the 
War  of  the  Revolution,  who  was  writing  a  book  entitled,  '  Memoirs  of  a 
Life  chiefly  passed  in  Pennsylvania  within  the  last  Sixty  Years.'"  Colo- 
nel Cadwalader's  letter  was  printed  by  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  July  1901. 


10  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

and  fraternal  hospitality,  was  very  novel,  and  had  never 
been  statedly  and  officially  recognised.  On  this  point 
our  officers  had  no  specific  orders  to  guide  them.  Each 
man  acted  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  his  individual 
nature;  and  the  result  proved  that  there  was  plenty  of 
right  feeling,  and  honourable  self-control,  within  the 
British  ranks.  The  Pennsylvanian  prisoners  first  came 
into  the  custody  of  a  decent  looking  sergeant.  He  pro- 
tected them  from  a  Hessian  who  cursed  them  in  bad 
English,  and  himself  bestowed  on  them  a  friendly  ad- 
monition in  very  broad  Scotch.  "  Young  men,"  he  said, 
"  ye  never  should  fight  against  your  King."  "The  little 
bustle,"  (the  author  writes,)  "  produced  by  our  surrender 
was  scarcely  over,  when  a  British  officer,  apparently  of 
high  rank,  rode  up  at  full  gallop,  exxlaiming  :  '  What ! 
Taking  prisoners  !  Kill  every  man  of  them.'  Although 
by  this  time  there  was  none  of  that  appearance  of  fe- 
rocity in  the  guard  which  would  induce  much  fear  that 
they  would  execute  this  command,  I  took  off  my  hat 
saying:  'Sir,  I  put  myself  under  your  protection.'  His 
manner  was  instantly  softened.  He  met  my  salutation 
with  an  inclination  of  his  body  ;  and,  after  a  civil  ques- 
tion or  two,  as  if  to  make  amends  for  his  sanguinary 
mandate,  he  rode  off  towards  the  fort,  to  which  he  had 
enquired  his  way." 

That  was  the  measure  of  British  ferocity  and  im- 
placability. As  the  captives  were  passed  on  from  one 
set  of  guardians  to  another,  they  sometimes  got  a  surly 
or  an  insolent  word ;  and  the  subalterns  of  a  smart 
Light  Infantry  regiment  were  moved  to  irrepressible 
mirth  by  the  appearance  and  accent  of  an  unrefined 
and  untidy  militia  officer.  But  for  the  most  part  the 
prisoners  met  with  reasonable  civility,  and  very  sub- 
stantial kindness.  Soldiers  brought  them  a  constant 
supply  of  drinking-water,  at  great  trouble  to  them- 
selves. Officers  shared  with  them  a  small  and  pre- 
carious ration  during  that  period  of  destitution  which 
immediately  succeeds  a  battle ;  and  sent  them  out  gen- 
erous portions  from  the  mess-tables  when  the  tumbrels 


FORT    WASHINGTON  II 

had  come  up  from  the  rear,  and  viands  were  again 
abundant.  The  gentleman  to  whose  charge  they  were 
finally  entrusted  was  of  a  singularly  amiable  and  chival- 
rous character.  Lieutenant  Becket,  (for  that  was  his 
name,)  was  courteous  himself  ;  and  his  example  diffused 
an  atmosphere  of  courtesy  around  him.^  No  one  within 
his  hearing  addressed  the  prisoners  as  "  rebels ; "  and, 
if  he  had  occasion  to  distinguish  in  conversation  between 
the  belligerents,  he  invariably  made  use  of  the  expres- 
sions "your  people,"  and  "our  people."  When  the 
Americans  were  formed  up  on  the  road  to  New  York, 
between  two  lines  of  British  infantry :  "  Come,  gentle- 
men," he  said;  "we  are  all  soldiers.  To  the  right 
face !  March  !  "  and  he  w^alked  the  first  half  mile  on 
the  flank  of  the  column  w'ith  the  air  of  a  good-humoured 
comrade.  At  the  end  of  their  journey,  as  they  drew 
near  the  city,  they  were  encountered  by  a  mob  of  dis- 
reputable women  from  the  cantonments,  who  were 
enthusiastic  and  turbulent  partisans  of  the  cause  which, 
after  their  fashion,  they  served.  They  crowded  in  upon 
the  prisoners,  calling  out  to  know  which  of  them  was 
Washington,  and  assailing  them  with  volleys  of  ribaldry  ; 
until  a  disgusted,  —  and  under  the  circumstances,  a  laud- 
ably plainspoken,  —  British  colonel  came  to  the  rescue, 
and  put  the  Amazons  to  rout.^ 

Lieutenant  Becket  informed  his  prisoners  that  he 
was   forcibly   struck  with  the  poor   condition   of  their 

^  "  Mr.  Becket  applied  to  a  gentleman  on  horseback,  who  had  super- 
intended the  interment  of  the  dead,  to  know  whether  he  had  met  with  the 
body  of  an  officer  in  the  uniform  I  wore,  as  I  was  anxious  for  the  fate  of 
a  brother  who  was  missing.  With  much  delicacy,  addressing  himself  to 
me,  he  replied;  'No,  -Sir,  we  buried  no  one  with  linen  fine  enough  to 
have  been  your  brother.'  .  .  .  An  officer,  wrapped  up  in  a  camlet  cloak, 
young,  and  of  very  pleasing  address,  who  had  been  talking  with  Becket, 
came  to  me  observing  that  the  evening  was  very  cool,  and  asked  if  such 
weather  was  usual  with  us  at  this  season  of  the  year.  He  expressed  his 
hope  that  I  had  been  well  treated.  'As  well  as  possible,'  1  replied,  'by 
some  ;  and  as  ill  by  others.'  '  I  am  extremely  sorry  for  it :  '  he  saitl  ;  '  but 
there  are  rascals  in  all  services.'  "  In  the  British  regiments  there  were 
not  many  such  ;   and  those  of  no  very  deep  dye. 

^  Pennsylvanian  Memoirs;  chapter  viii. 


12  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

troops,  the  badness  of  their  muskets,  and  the  insuffi- 
ciency, in  every  respect,  of  their  appointments ;  and 
he  remarked  that  a  gentleman  serving  in  their  army 
required  more  than  an  ordinary  degree  of  fortitude  to 
take  the  field  under  such  disadvantages.  But  everything 
is  a  matter  of  comparison ;  and  the  garrison  at  Fort 
Washington  bore  less  resemblance  to  a  flock  of  indif- 
ferently armed  and  ill-clothed  irregulars  than  any  other 
equally  large  section  of  the  Provincial  forces.  The 
American  Commander-in-Chief  acknowledged  that  he 
had  lost  his  most  carefully  trained,  and  most  expen- 
sively equipped,  regiments ;  a  considerable  proportion 
of  his  artillery;  and  some  of  the  very  best  arms  he 
had.  He  witnessed  the  depressing  scene  from  a  high 
bank  at  Fort  Lee,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Hudson 
river,!  with  keen  self-reproach ;  although  he  knew  in 
his  heart  that  the  fault  was  not  all  his  own.  No  plea 
of  having  acted  under  superior  orders  was  put  forward 
in  the  official  report  of  the  affair  which  he  trans- 
mitted to  the  President  of  Congress :  but  a  sense  of 
personal  wrong  is  indicated,  —  not  angrily,  and  very 
sadly,  —  in  a  private  letter  to  his  brother.  He  there 
confessed  that  the  hope  of  a  successful  termination  to 
the  campaign  had  been  alive  in  his  mind  until  Fort 
Washington  fell.  General  Howe,  (he  said,)  but  for  that 
unfortunate  occurrence,  would  have  had  a  poor  tale  to 
tell,  and  might  have  found  it  difficult  to  reconcile  the 
people  of  England  to  the  conquest  of  a  few  pitiful 
islands,  none  of  which  had  ever  been  really  defensible 
against  a  power  whose  fleet  could  at  any  moment 
surround,  and  render  them  unapproachable.  "  I 
solemnly  protest,"  (Washington  exclaimed,)  "that  a 
pecuniary  reward  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  a  year 
would  not  induce  me  to  undergo  what  I  do  ;  and  after 
all,  perhaps,  to  lose  my  character;  as  it  is  impossible, 
under  such  a  variety  of  distressing  circumstances,  to 
conduct  matters  agreeably  to  public  expectation,  or  even 
to  the  expectation  of  those  who  employ  me ;    as  they 

1  General  Heath's  Memoirs;  November  i6,  1776. 


THROUGH  THE  JERSEYS  1 3 

will  not  make  proper  allowances  for  the  difficulties  their 
own  errors  have  occasioned."  ^ 

Twenty  thousand  pounds  a  year  would  have  made 
Washington  just  twice  as  rich  as  the  then  richest  man 
in  America ;  but  such  a  prize  would  have  small  tempta- 
tion to  one  who,  (as  he  wrote  in  this  very  letter,)  looked 
for  no  higher  reward  than  to  sit  once  more  in  the  peace- 
able enjoyment  of  his  own  vine  and  fig  tree,  when  the 
war  should  be  over,  and  the  country  saved.  That  peace- 
ful hour  was  now  indefinitely  postponed  ;  and  there  was 
grave  reason  to  doubt  if  it  ever  would  arrive.  The  loss 
of  Fort  Washington,  though  not  in  itself  a  catastrophe, 
was  one  of  those  calamities  which  launched  the  weaker 
party  on  the  downward  road  that  almost  inevitably  leads 
to  ruin;  and,  (to  make  the  matter  more  serious,)  that 
portion  of  the  British  army  which  headed  the  advance, 
was  commanded  by  a  general  of  a  higher  stamp  than 
any  whom  the  Americans  had  yet  encountered. 

Lord  Cornwallis  was  an  English  aristocrat  of  the 
finest  type.  Over  a  vast  space  of  time,  and  in  many 
lands,  he  served  the  State  in  war,  in  politics,  in  diplo- 
macy, and  in  high  administration.  Whether  or  not  he 
was  exceptionally  clever  was  a  question  which  he  had 
never  in  his  life  considered  ;  any  more  than  he  would 
have  asked  himself  if  he  was  brave  and  honest.  Nor 
did  his  countrymen  come  to  any  very  definite  conclusion 
as  to  the  pre-eminence  and  rarity  of  his  abilities.  It  was 
enough  for  them  that  he  was  a  man  of  immense  and 
varied  experience  ;  careful  and  industrious  ;  modest  in 
success  and  equable  in  adversity  ;  enlightened,  tolerant, 
and  humane ;  contemptuous  of  money,  and  indifferent 
to  the  outward  badges  of  honour.^     What  a  consular  of 

^  Washington  to  the  President  of  Congress  ;  General  Greene's  Quarters, 
November  16,  1776.  To  John  Augustine  Washington  ;  Hackensac,  No- 
vemlier  19,  1776. 

-  When,  in  the  war  against  Tippoo  Sahib,  he  took  the  field  as  Gov- 
ernor-fjeneral,  Cornwallis  found  occasion  to  spend,  from  his  own  resources, 
near  thirty  thousand  pounds  in  eigliteen  months;  and  yet  he  gave  up  his 
claim  to  not  much  less  than   lifly  ihuunand  puuiuls  of  pri/.e  mom-y,  which 


14  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

old  Rome,  in  Rome's  greatest  days,  is  traditionally 
supposed  to  have  been,  that  Cornwallis  actually  was. 
Throughout  the  whole  of  his  long  career  he  presented, 
first  to"  his  own,  and  then  to  a  younger,  generation,  a  liv- 
ing and  most  attractive  example  of  antique  and  single- 
minded  patriotism.  In  the  House  of  Lords  he  had 
consistently  opposed  all  schemes  for  the  taxation  and 
coercion  of  the  colonists ;  but,  when  they  flew  to  arms, 
and  he  was  called  upon  to  fight  against  them,  Corn- 
waUis  held  that,  as  a  soldier,  he  was  not  at  liberty  to 
disobey  the  order.  If  he  had  been  Governor-General 
of  New  England  during  the  years  that  Sir  Guy  Carleton 
was  Governor  of  Canada,  it  is,  humanly  speaking,  almost 
certain  that  there  would  have  been  no  American  rebel- 
lion. If,  after  hostilities  broke  out,  he  had  been  Com- 
mander-in-Chief instead  of  Sir  William  Howe  and  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  it  is  quite  certain  that  British  strategy 
would  have  been  far  less  halting  and  desultory.  The 
energy  and  enterprise,  which  subsequently  marked  his 
two  campaigns  in  the  CaroHnas,  revived  the  dying  credit 
of  our  national  generalship  ;  and  military  students  may 
still  draw  valuable  lessons  from  the  counter-operations 
which  were  planned  with  solid  ability,  and  conducted 
with  manly  pertinacity,  by  Cornwallis  on  the  one  side, 
and  by  Nathanael  Greene  on  the  other. 

England's  crowning  misfortune  in  the  American  war 
will  always  be  connected  with  the  memory  of  Lord 
Cornwallis.  And  yet,  when  Yorktown  fell,  the  respon- 
sibility for  its  loss  was  attributed,  and  rightly  attributed, 
not  to  the  general  who  capitulated,  but  to    the    Com- 

he  left  to  be  distributed  among  the  troops.  There  is  a  hearty  letter  from 
CornwaUis  to  his  son  on  the  subject  of  the  Garter,  which  was  bestowed  on 
the  Governor-General  soon  after  his  arrival  at  Calcutta.  "  I  can  assure 
you  upon  my  honour,"  he  wrote,  "  that  I  neither  asked  for  it  nor  wished 
for  it.  The  reasonable  object  of  ambition  to  a  man  is  to  have  his  name 
transmitted  to  posterity  for  eminent  services  rendered  to  his  country  and 
mankind.  Nobody  asks  or  cares  whether  Hampden,  Marlborough,  Pel- 
ham,  or  Wolfe  were  Knights  of  the  Garter."  When,  in  obedience  to  the 
mandate  of  the  King,  Cornwallis  opposed  P'ox's  East  India  Bill,  he  insisted 
on  resigning  the  Constableship  of  the  Tower,  so  that  no  man  might  sus- 
pect him  of  having  voted  with  the  Court  in  order  to  keep  an  office. 


THROUGH  THE  JERSEYS  1 5 

mander-in-Chief  at  New  York  who  had  failed  to  support 
him,  and  to    the  First  Lord  of    the  Admiralty,  whose 
scandalous  mismanagement  had  resulted  in  the  paralysis 
of  our  fleet  at  that  moment  of  time  when,  and  on  the 
very  spot  where,  the  fortune  of  our  empire  was  at  stake. 
Sir    Henry    Clinton  was    recalled.       In   the    House  of 
Commons  a  very  narrow  majority  indeed  saved    Lord 
Sandwich  from  a  motion  for  inquiry  into  his  adminis- 
tration of   the  Navy  during  the    year  1781  ;    and  that 
motion,  if  successful,  was  to  have  been  followed  by  an 
impeachment.      But  Parhament  showed  no  incHnation 
to  bring  Lord  CornwalHs  to  account ;  all  parties  united  in 
a  strong  desire  as  soon  as  possible  to  re-employ  him  ;^  and, 
after  no  long  while,  the  Governor-Generalship  of  our  East- 
ern possessions  was  forced  upon  his  reluctant  acceptance. 
There  he  played  a  famous  part ;  and,  (although  some  fea- 
tures of  his  internal  poHcy  have  been  gravely  questioned,) 
his  probity  and  public  spirit  communicated  to  the  Govern- 
ment of    India  that  high  and  pure  tone  which,  to  the 
abiding  honour  of  the  British  name,  it  has  ever  since 
retained.     In  1798  he  quelled  the  rebellion,  and  defeated 
a  French  invasion,  in  Ireland.      With  a  courage  all  his 
own,  and  an  authority  which  no  man  else  could  have 
exercised,  he    discountenanced,  and    greatly  mitigated, 
the  severities  demanded  and  practised  by  the  dominant 
party  in  that  unhappy  island.       As  plenipotentiary  in 
Paris  he  negotiated  the  Peace  of  Amiens  ;  and  at  the  last, 
an  old  broken  man,  in  his  country's  need  and  in  quiet  sub- 
mission to  her  call,  he  sailed  once  more  for  India  to  die. 

1  Very  striking  testimony  to  the  esteem  in  which  Cornwallis  was  held, 
subsequently  to  his  misfortune  at  Yorktown,  comes  from  two  exactly 
opposite  quarters.  Soon  after  he  landed  in  England,  while  he  was  still  a 
prisoner  on  parole,  the  approbation  and  conlldence  of  George  the  Third 
were  conveyed  to  him  in  a  most  generous  Utter,  written  throughout  by  the 
royal  hand.  A  year  later  Charles  Fox  referred  to  Lord  Cornwallis  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  at  a  time  when  the  two  old  friends  had  become  polili- 
cal  opponents.  The  name  of  such  a  man,  (said  the  orator,)  might  make 
Parliament  consent  to  the  voting  of  very  extensive  powers  in  a  C.overnor- 
General  of  India;  but  he  was  certain  that  nothing  1-ut  llic  great  character 
of  that  n.jlilc  L<jrd  could  ever  induce  the  Legislature  to  commit  such 
power  to  one  individual,   at  the   distance   of  half  the  globe. 


l6  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION' 

In  November  1776  Lord  Cornwallis  was  at  the  very 
top  of  his  physical  and  mental  powers.  The  Prince  de 
Ligne,  who  knew  war  as  intimately  as  he  knew  man- 
kind, always  maintained  that  a  soldier  was  no  longer  at 
his  best  when  the  sap  had  ceased  to  mount.  "  I  am 
aware,"  (said  the  uncompromising  veteran,)  "  that  the 
thirst  for  glory  and  the  zeal  for  duty  will,  all  through 
life,  exalt  men  above  themselves ;  but  those  admirable 
motives  cannot  replace  that  natural  love  of  hazard,  and 
fatigue,  and  adventures,  which  comes  from  the  violent 
circulation  of  young  and  boiling  blood.  When  I  am 
told  that  an  officer  is  a  person  of  honour  and  loyalty, 
I  reply  that  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  it,  if  only  he  has 
le  diable  au  corps''  ^  Cornwallis  still  preserved  that 
indispensable,  though  oddly  designated,  qualification 
for  active  warfare  at  the  time  when  he  was  commis- 
sioned by  Howe  to  follow  up  the  advantage  which  our 
army  had  obtained  at  Fort  Washington.  In  after  days 
he  was  accompanied  on  his  Mysore  expedition  by  cer- 
tain allied  Rajahs,  in  command,  but  in  the  hour  of 
battle  not  always  at  the  head,  of  their  respective  con- 
tingents. These  potentates,  —  with  a  sense  of  injured 
dignity,  sharpened  by  personal  uneasiness  at  what  they 
considered  a  very  dangerous  precedent  for  themselves, 
—  complained  that  the  Governor- General  exposed  him- 
self under  fire  like  a  private  grenadier.  And  during 
the  invasion  of  the  Jerseys,  (when,  instead  of  being  a 
Viceroy,  he  was  only  a  Major  General  on  the  Army 
List,^  and  two  good  years  on  the  right  side  of  forty,) 
Cornwallis  was  never  far  in  rear  of  his  advance  guard, 
and  that  advance  guard  was  seldom  much  behind  the 
enemy.  With  secrecy  and  celerity  he  passed  six  thou- 
sand British  and  German  troops  across  the  Hudson  at 
points  above   King's   Bridge.^     On    the    twentieth    of 

1  The  section  "  Sur  les  jeunes  gens  ;  "  Melanges  Historiques  et  Litte- 
raires,  par  le  Prince  de  Ligne. 

-  All  through  1776  Cornwallis  was  "  Lieutenant  General  in  America." 
He  became  a  Lieutenant  General  on  the  Army  List  in  August  1777. 

3  The  operations  related  in  this  chapter,  and  the  two  which  follow,  are 
clearly  delineated  in  the  map  at  the  end  of  the  volume. 


THROUGH   THE  JERSEYS  1 7 

November  a  party  of  sailors,  whom  Lord  Howe  had 
lent  him,  with  infinite  enjoyment  dragged  his  heavy 
guns  up  half  a  mile  of  narrow  stony  road,  and  planted  a 
battery  on  the  top  of  a  precipice  which,  within  easy 
cannon-range,  overlooked  Fort  Lee  and  the  adjacent 
encampment.  The  surprise  was  all  but  complete. 
Cornwallis  made  a  push  to  seize  the  passes  over  the 
Hackensac  river,  the  occupation  of  which  would  have 
enabled  him  to  shut  up  two  thousand  Provincials  on  a 
peninsula  only  fifteen  miles  long,  and  nowhere  more 
than  three  miles  wide ;  at  the  further  end  of  which  the 
sole  retreat  was  across  a  league  of  sea-water  patrolled 
by  the  British  frigates.  It  was  the  most  that  Greene 
and  his  colonels  could  do  to  withdraw  their  regiments, 
their  ammunition,  and  a  couple  of  twelve-pounders. 
They  left  behind  them  thirty-two  pieces  of  artillery 
mounted  on  the  ramparts  of  the  fort ;  a  thousand  bar- 
rels of  flour,  that  before  long  were  grievously  missed ; 
many  tents,  and  much  baggage;  as  well  as  a  consider- 
able amount  of  military  reputation,  and  all  that  remained 
of  the  cheerfulness  and  confidence  which  had,  up  to  a 
very  recent  period,  inspired  the  Provincial  forces. 

These  repeated  blows  descended  upon  a  frame  too 
ill-knit  to  resist  their  impact.  The  Revolutionary 
army  was  now  in  rapid  course  of  disintegration  and 
dissolution.  Washington's  nominal  strength  had  fallen 
to  less  than  six,  and  his  real  strength  was  not  above 
four,  thousand. 1  Near  five  thousand  of  his  people  had 
been  made  prisoners  in  the  course  of  twelve  weeks ; 
and  the  contagion  of  desertion,  which  had  been  epi- 
demic in  his  cantonments,  now  raged  after  the  manner 
of  a  plague.  The  ranks  melted,  it  was  said,  like  snow 
in  summer ;  but  that  was  too  genial  and  Arcadian  a 
metaphor  to  use    in    connection    with    the   dreary    and 

1  These  numbers  were  detailed  in  the  text,  and  in  the  First  Appendix, 
of  The  Battles  of  Trenton  ami  Princeton,  by  William  S.  Stryker,  Adjutant 
General  of  New  Jersey,  and  President  of  the  New  Jersey  Ilistcjrical  Society  ; 
Boston  and  New  York,  1898.  A  better  book  on  the  subject  could  not 
be  compiled. 

VOL.  Ill,  C 


1 8  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

comfortless  situation.  For  winter  was  setting  in  ;  the 
frost  was  sharp,  and  the  wind  cruel ;  the  troops  were 
wretchedly  provided  with  tents  and  blankets ;  and 
Greene's  soldiers,  in  the  hurry  of  their  escape  from  Fort 
Lee,  had  brought  away  with  them  nothing  except  their 
muskets.  The  militia,  more  homesick  than  ever,  disap- 
peared every  night  by  scores  and  dozens.  Those  of 
them  who  scrupled  to  go  off  by  stealth  fondly  reflected 
that  they  had  only  ten  days  more  to  serve,  and  proclaimed 
their  intention  of  departing  in  mass  so  soon  as  their  time 
was  up.  Even  the  regulars  of  the  Continental  line 
began  to  count,  with  ominous  satisfaction,  the  dwindling 
residue  of  weeks  during  which  they  were  bound  by  their 
contract  to  serve  with  the  colours.  A  wreck  of  Washing- 
ton's once  numerous  host  lay  in  hopeless  plight  round 
and  about  the  village  of  Hackensac ;  cut  off  from  any 
base  of  supply ;  with  no  intrenching  tools,  and  very 
few  cannon.  The  Americans  were  certain  to  be  beaten 
whenever  the  British  came  against  them  resolutely,  and 
in  full  force  ;  and,  if  beaten,  they  would  be  hustled 
down  southwards  between  the  Hackensac  and  the 
Passaic  rivers,  and  destroyed  or  taken  to  a  man.  Their 
general  was  keenly  alive  to  the  peril  in  which  he  stood ; 
and  he  already  had  learned  enough  of  CornwalHs  to 
know  that  it  would  not  be  the  fault  of  that  commander 
if  so  rare  an  opportunity  was  mishandled  and  wasted.^ 

Washington  accordingly  crossed  the  Passaic  by  the 
bridge  at  Acquackanonck,  and  retreated  to  Newark, 
where  he  abode  a  week  until  a  report  reached  him  that 
Howe  was  taking  measures  for  landing  a  detachment  at 
South  Amboy  in  order  to  catch  the  American  army  in 
the  rear.  On  Thursday  the  twenty-eighth  of  November 
that  army  filed  out  of  Newark,  with  the  English  close 
upon  their  heels ;  ^    marched  in  two  separate  columns 

1  Washington's  three  letters  of  November  21, 1776,  to  Major  General  Lee, 
to  the  President  of  Congress,  and  to  Governor  Livingston  of  New  Jersey. 

"^  "  Our  force,"  wrote  General  Washington,  "  was  by  no  means  sufficient 
to  make  stand,  with  the  least  probability  of  success,  against  an  enemy  much 
superior  in  numbers,  and  whose  advanced  guards  were  entering  the  town 
by  the  time  our  rear  got  out."     Letter  of  November  30,  1776. 


THROUGH   THE  JERSEYS  1 9 

along  the  roads  which  led  through  Springfield  and 
Elizabeth  Town ;  and  took  up  their  position  at  New 
Brunswick,  behind  the  river  Raritan.  At  this  point 
the  remnant  of  those  ten  thousand  militiamen,  who 
during  the  past  summer  had  figured  in  the  newspapers 
under  the  title  of  the  Flying  Camp,  took  wing  in  a 
flock,  and  migrated  homewards.  That  contemporary 
historian,  who  said  that  the  American  army  had 
ceased  to  exist,^  did  not  greatly  exaggerate  as  the  case 
stood ;  and  his  description  would  have  been  absolutely 
and  literally  accurate  if  Cornwallis  had  been  allowed 
to  take  his  own  course.  So  great,  (to  quote  General 
Howe's  official  account,)  was  the  confusion  among 
Washington's  troops  that  they  must  inevitably  have 
been  cut  in  pieces  if  they  had  not  broken  down  a 
portion  of  Brunswick  Bridge,  and  thereby  disabled 
their  pursuer  from  following  them  across  the  Raritan. ^ 

It  was  a  poor  excuse  for  Howe  to  put  forward,  and 
most  unfair  to  an  alert  and  strenuous  subordinate.  On 
the  first  of  December  Lord  Cornwallis  marched  twenty 
miles  over  exceedingly  bad  roads  in  a  single  day,  and  ap- 
proached the  Raritan,  with  a  powerful  force  well  in 
hand,  before  ever  the  rear  guard  of  the  enemy  had 
passed  the  river.  There  he  was  overtaken  by  a  message 
informing  him  that  General  Howe  refused  to  sanction 
any  further  aggressive  movements  until  he  himself  ar- 
rived at  the  front  with  reinforcements  ;  and  then  a  full 
week  elapsed  before  the  British  Commander-in-Chief, 
accompanied  by  a  single  brigade,  came  into  camp,  and 
assumed  the  personal  command  of  the  army.  Howe's 
tactical  arrangements,  whenever  and  wherever  his 
troops  were  sent  into  action,  had  hitherto  uniformly 
been  excellent ;  but  this  month  of  December  ruined, 
once  and  for  ever,  his  repute  as  a  strategist.  The  true 
policy  of  the  campaign  was  to  keep  the  Americans  per- 

1  "History  of  Europe"  in  the  Annual  Register  for  the  year  1777  ; 
chapter  i. 

2  Letter  from  Sir  William  Howe  to  Lord  George  Germaine  ;  New  York, 
December  20,  1776. 


20  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

petually  on  the  run  till  their  army  was  reduced  to  frag- 
ments ;  to  take  and  hold  their  capital  of  Philadelphia  ; 
and  to  break  up  their  civil  administration,  and  their  mili- 
tary organisation,  beyond  any  possibility  of  repair  or 
resurrection.  All  other  schemes  should  have  been  post- 
poned to  the  accomplishment  of  that  supreme  object ; 
and  every  available  man  and  horse  should  have  been 
launched  on  the  chase  of  a  decisive  and  overwhelming 
victory.  The  time  had  come  for  acting  in  the  spirit  of 
the  phrase  which  General  Sheridan  used  at  the  crisis  of 
his  battles  :  "  Now  let  everything  go  in  !  "  But  this  was 
the  precise  moment  which  Howe  selected  to  despatch 
two  divisions  of  infantry,  in  a  fleet  of  seventy  transports 
escorted  by  eleven  men-of-war,  for  the  purpose  of  sub- 
duing Rhode  Island  ;  —  and  only  the  actual  island  itself, 
without  extending  their  operations  to  the  rest  of  the 
province  which  bore  that  name.  It  was  a  facile  con- 
quest ;  but  the  fruits  were  as  insignificant  as  the  under- 
taking had  l^een  ill-timed.  The  American  shipping 
escaped  up  the  bay  to  Providence  ;  and  several  thousand 
Royal  troops  were  thenceforward  locked  up  in  a  sea-girt 
slip  of  land  no  larger  than  the  estate  of  many  an  English 
Lord-Lieutenant.  Their  head-quarters  were  at  New- 
port ;  and,  for  any  effect  which  they  produced  upon 
the  general  result  of  the  war,  they  might  have  been 
as  usefully,  and  much  more  agreeably,  billeted  in  the 
town  of  the  same  name  in  the  Isle  of  Wight. 

It  was  not  till  the  seventh  of  December  that  Howe 
resumed  his  onward  march  ;  and  Washington  was  already 
\  far,  or  far  enough,  away.  While  still  at  Brunswick,  he 
\  had  issued  orders  to  occupy  the  ferries  above  and  below 
Trenton  ;  to  seize  every  boat  on  the  Delaware,  and  its 
tributary  streams,  over  the  space  of  many  miles  up  and 
down  the  river ;  and  to  make  sure  that  they  were  in 
sound  condition,  and  adequately  provided  with  oars  and 
punting-poles.  Lord  Stirling,  with  fourteen  hundred 
Southern  infantry,  —  the  flower  of  the  army,  though  a 
faded  flower  it  was,  —  established  himself  strongly  at 
Princeton ;  and,  under  cover  of  the  slender  force  com- 


THROUGH   THE  JERSEYS  21 

manded  by  that  vigilant  officer,  Washington  very  coolly 
and  deliberately  carried  through  his  arrangements  for 
abandoning  the  Jerseys,  where  he  could  no  longer  stay 
without  the  certainty  of  utter  and  instant  ruin.  He 
transported  over  the  Delaware  his  military  stores,  which, 
indeed,  were  no  heavy  burden  ;  and  his  sick  and  dis- 
abled, whom,  after  that  long  and  exhausting  campaign,  it 
was  not  easy  to  distinguish  from  those  of  their  comrades 
who  were  still  classed  as  hale  and  effective.  On  the 
seventh  and  eighth  of  the  month  his  fighting  army  crossed 
the  river.  The  shipping  which  the  Americans  had  at  their 
disposal  was  in  excess  of  their  requirements.  Washing- 
ton had  made  a  great  point  of  securing  certain  barges, 
from  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  length,  which  were  known  as 
the  Durham  Boats,  and  which  were  ordinarily  employed 
for  the  conveyance  of  heavy  goods  and  iron  ore  between 
Philadelphia  and  the  northern  counties  of  New  Jersey.^ 
So  thin  were  his  ranks  that  each  of  these  vessels  in  some 
cases  afforded  accommodation  for  an  entire  regiment. 

Few  or  many,  the  Provincials  were  all  safely  landed  in 
Pennsylvania.  Their  rear  guard  had  hardly  disembarked 
on  the  secure  side  of  the  river  when  their  pleasing  sen- 
sation of,  at  least,  a  temporary  intermission  from  danger 
was  enhanced  by  the  almost  simultaneous  appearance 
on  the  eastern  bank  of  a  baffled  and  outwitted  enemy. 
Howe's  vanguard  came  marching  bravely  down  in  full 
expectation  of  being  over  the  Delaware  before  nightfall. 
The  citizens  of  Trenton  were  deeply  impressed  by  the 
style  in  which  a  Hessian  brigade  entered  their  town, 
played  through  the  streets  by  a  band  of  music  superior  to 
anything  that  the  whole  of  the  armies  commanded 
by  Washington  and  Gates  could  produce  between  them. 
But,  extraordinary  to  relate,  the  English  general  had 
been  started  on  a  campaign,  in  a  region  intersected  at 
frequent  intervals  by  broad  and  deep  streams,  without 
any  of  the  appliances  requisite  for  traversing  an  un- 
bridged  river.  "  How  provoking  it  is,"  (exclaimed  Colo- 
nel Enoch  Markham,)  "that  our  army,  when  it  entered 

^  Washington  to  Colonel  Hampton  ;    December  I,  1776. 


22  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  Jerseys,  was  not  provided  with  a  single  pontoon ! 
Unless  the  object  was  Philadelphia,  entering  the  Jerseys 
was  absurd  to  the  last  degree.  If  we  had  six  flat-bot- 
tomed boats,  we  could  cross  the  Delaware."  That  was 
the  view  of  a  practised  soldier ;  and  even  civilians,  who 
had  eyes  in  their  heads,  could  not  understand  why  the 
ingenuity  of  British  military  engineers  on  the  spot  did 
nothing  to  remedy  the  improvidence  of  the  British  War 
Office.  A  Loyalist  gentleman,  who  had  followed  our 
columns  up  to  the  Delaware,  —  and  who  expected,  within 
three  days'  time,  to  have  been  eating  his  dinner  in 
Philadelphia,  where  he  would  have  found  plenty  of  hosts 
willing  and  proud  to  entertain  him,  —  discovered  for 
himself  that,  at  and  near  Trenton,  there  were  forty-eight 
thousand  feet  of  boards  in  store,  besides  a  great  quantity 
of  strong  wire.  A  well-stocked  timber-yard  lay  directly 
at  the  back  of  the  premises  where  the  English  head- 
quarters had  been  established  ;  and,  if  any  additional 
materials  were  needed,  the  town  contained  a  hundred 
wooden  houses,  and  no  less  than  four  blacksmiths' 
shops.^  There  was  hardly  a  brigade  in  Washington's 
army  that  would  not  have  furnished  artificers  to  con- 
struct the  rafts,  and  ferrymen  and  boatmen  to  handle 
them ;  but  our  soldiers  were  unskilled,  and  our  com- 
manders helpless,  in  front  of  an  obstacle  which  they  all 
pronounced  to  be  insurmountable.  On  the  morning  of 
the  ninth  of  December  Lord  CornwaUis  marched  thir- 
teen miles  along  the  Delaware,  as  far  towards  the  north 
as  Coryell's  Ferry,  in  search  of  boats  which  had  all  been 
carefully  deposited  either  beyond,  or  beneath,  the  water.^ 

1  Joseph  Galloway's  Evidence  before  the  House  of  Commons;  June  iS, 
1776.  ]onQs's  History  of  iVew  York;  Vol.  I.,  chapter  vi.  The  names  of 
the  Trenton  blacksmiths  are  given  in  Mr.  Stryker's  Battles  of  Trenton  and 
Princeton. 

-  "  On  Sunday  morning  we  crossed  the  Delaware.  About  eleven  o'clock 
the  enemy  came  marching  down  with  all  the  pomp  of  war,  in  great  expec- 
tation of  getting  boats  ;  but  of  this  we  took  proper  care  by  destroying 
every  boat  or  shallop  we  could  lay  hands  on.  They  made  forced  marches 
up  and  down  the.  river  in  pursuit  of  boats  ;  but  in  vain.  The  enemy  are 
at  least  twelve  thousand  strong,  determined  for  Philadelphia."  Letter  of 
an  officer  from  Trenton  ;    American  Archives,  December  1776. 


THROUGH   THE  JERSEYS  23 

Stedman,  the  English  historian  of  the  war,  remarked 
that  General  Howe  appeared  to  have  calculated  with 
the  greatest  accuracy  the  exact  time  necessary  for  the 
enemy  to  make  his  escape;  and  Washington  himself 
modestly  attributed  the  entire  credit  of  that  escape  to  the  ^y 
"  infatuation  "  of  his  opponent.    The  Delaware  river,  (  he  \/ 

confessed,)  and  nothing  else,  had  saved  Philadelphia. 

The  Americans  needed  all  the  consolation  which  they 
could  derive  from  the  very  visible  disappointment  of 
their  adversary ;  for  seldom  or  never  has  any  body  of 
troops,  that  still  held  together  as  an  organised  and  obe- 
dient army,  been  in  much  worse  case  than  theirs.  They 
had  originally  been  equipped  in  headlong  haste,  out  of 
the  scanty  resources,  or  on  the  fast  vanishing  credit, 
of  an  almost  empty  Treasury.  By  the  time  that  Fort 
Washington  was  captured,  three  months  of  active  war- 
fare had  already  reduced  most  of  their  regiments  to  an 
aspect-  of  beggary.  Provincial  officers,  who  were  pris- 
oners among  the  British  tents,  were  painfully  struck  by 
a  comparison  between  the  private  men  of  the  two  con- 
tending forces.  While  their  own  poor  fellows,  (they 
said,)  were  already  ragged,  and  the  best  of  them  clad 
in  flimsy  threadbare  clothes,  with  worse  stockings  and 
shoes,  the  Royal  troops  were  tight  and  comfortable  in 
their  attire ;  and  every  man  among  them  was  provided 
with  a  thick  nightcap  to  wear  when  asleep  or  off  duty. 
Lord  Dartmouth  received,  from  one  of  his  most  regular 
correspondents,  a  letter  remarking  on  the  policy  of  Con- 
gress in  having  closed  American  ports  against  the  intro- 
duction of  Yorkshire  woollens.  If  the  rebels,  (so  this 
gentleman  reported,)  were  obHged  to  keep  the  field  dur- 
ing the  winter,  they  would  suffer  much  distress,  if  not 
destruction.  He  himself  had  seen  advertisements  in  the 
newspapers  asking  for  all  the  blankets  that  could  be 
spared  from  people's  beds  throughout  the  country.  This, 
however,  would  afford  a  very  scanty  and  precarious 
resource  for  the  army,  since  few  civilians  would  find 
their  patriotism  warm  enough  to  unclothe  themselves 
without  the  prospect  of  being  able  to  obtain  a  fresh 


24  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

supply  from  abroad  during  the  whole  of  the  winter', 
and  a  winter  in  that  climate  was  severe  indeed.     Many 
of  Washington's   soldiers,  (the  writer  added,)  had  no 
other  covering  than  a  rifleman's  frock  of  canvas  over 
their  shirts,  and  were  diseased,  and  over-run  with  ver- 
min, to  a  degree  that  was  positively  revolting.^     Such 
was  the  state  of  things  on  the  seventh  of  November, 
when  the  retreat  across  the  Jerseys  had  not  yet  com- 
menced.    Since  that  date  four  weeks  of  open  bivouacs 
in  sleet  and  hail-storms,  —  and  long  marches  over  roads 
to  which,  even  before  they  had  been  broken  up  by  mili- 
tary traffic,  the  least  fastidious  tourist  from   Western 
Europe  would  have  scornfully  denied  the  title  of  high- 
ways,—  brought  the  remnant  of  Washington's  followers 
into  a  state  of  destitution  which  in  some  instances  hardly 
stopped  short  of  nudity.     The  hunting-shirt  of  the  fron- 
tier-men had  been  "  the  mortal  aversion  of  every  red- 
coat; "^    but  those   dreaded   marksmen   now,   by  their 
miserable  appearance,  excited  a  movement  of  generous 
compassion  in  the  breast  of  more  than  one  English  offi- 
cer.     Young  militiamen,  who  had  come  on  service  in 
their  farm  clothes,  were  in  a  pitiable  condition  long  be- 
fore they  reached  Trenton  Ferry ;  and  the  Continental 
regulars,  who  had  begun  the  campaign  in  buff  and  blue, 
admitted,  (with  a  touch  of  that  American  humour  which 
defies  misfortune,)  that  they  would  have  been  "  all  buff " 
had  the  retreat  lasted  a  fortnight  longer.     There  was 
nothing  gay  or  showy  except  the  regimental  flags ;  and 
those  were  not  of  a  conventional  mihtary  pattern.     The 
tattered  footsore  group,  which  was  called  a  battalion, 
trailing  wearily  through  rain  and  mud  behind  a  banner 
gaudy  with  allegorical  and  emblematic  devices,  bore  a 
closer  external  resemblance  to  some  village  benefit  club 
in  very  poor  circumstances  than  to  a  band  of  warriors 
who  were  on  the  eve  of  a  world-famous  exploit.^ 

1  Ambrose  Serle  to  Lord  Dartmouth  ;  November  7,  1776. 

2  Penusylvanian  Memoirs  ;  chapter  viii. 

3  The  standard  of  the  thirteenth  legiment  displayed  a  pine  tree,  and 
a  field  of  Indian  corn,  on  a  ground  of  light  buff.     The  supporters  were 


THROUGH   THE  JERSEYS  2$ 

Inclement  weather,  and  incessant  toil  and  exposure, 
were  all  the  more  afflicting  to  soldiers  who  were  worse 
than  badly  fed  by  their  employers,  and  who  had  not  the 
leisure  or  the  permission  to  cater  for  themselves.  The 
administrative  departments  had  completely  broken  down ; 
and,  indeed,  since  their  wholesale  and  repeated  losses  by 
capture  of  waggons  and  draught-horses,  the  Transport 
officers  had  not  much  left  to  administer.  Carrying  next 
to  nothing  along  with  them,  the  Provincials  could  procure 
very  little  from  the  country  through  which  they  travelled. 
Their  force  was  small,  and  they  had  no  men  to  spare  from 
the  duties  of  watching  the  enemy,  and  guarding  the  camp ; 
the  militia  were  so  prone  to  desert  that  they  could  not 
safely  be  trusted  at  a  distance  from  head-quarters ;  and, 
as  long  as  Cornwallis  managed  the  pursuit,  the  British 
skirmishers  had  been  active,  audacious,  and  importunate. 
For  all  these  reasons  the  American  commander  did  not 
venture  to  send  out  foragers  in  any  great  number  over  a 
considerable  extent  of  country.  At  that  season  of  the 
year  the  harvest  of  maize  had  long  ago  been  cut  and 
gathered  ;  and  Washington's  soldiers  could  not,  (like  the 
troops  of  General  Jackson  in  the  War  of  the  Secession,) 
eat  their  rations  "off  the  stalk"  in  the  corn-fields  along 
their  line  of  march.  There  is  a  casual  mention  of  half  a 
pint  of  whiskey  having  been  served  out  daily  to  every 
American  ;  but  whether  or  not  they  received  that  allow- 
ance regularly,  and  whatever  it  may  have  done  towards 
keeping  them  contented,  they  most  certainly  got  very  little 
solid  or  wholesome  food  to  sustain  them.  They  starved 
all  the  way  from  Hackensac  to  Newark,  and  from  New- 
ark to  Brunswick ;  and,  by  the  time  they  came  in  sight 
of  the  Delaware,  those  mothers  and  .sisters,  who  had 
spun  and  dyed  their  garments,  would  with  difficulty  have 
recognised  their  pinched  faces  and  discoloured  rags.^ 

"  two  officers  in  the  uniform  of  the  regiment ;  one  of  them  wounded  in 
the  breast,  the  blood  streaming  from  the  wound.  Under  the  Pine  several 
children  ;  one  of  the  officers,  pointing  to  them,  with  the  motto,  '  For 
Posterity  I  Bleed!'"     American  Archives;  September  1776. 

1  Mr.  William  Stillman  tells  in  his  autobiography  how  his  maternal 
grandfather,  a  clergyman  at  Ncwjjort  in  Rhode  Island,  sent  two  sons  into 


26  THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

The  fate  of  the  sick  and  the  wounded  was  heart-rend- 
ing. So  far  back  as  October  there  were  five  battalions, 
brigaded  together  above  Haerlem,  which  had  only  one 
surgeon's  mate  among  them.^  The  store  of  drugs  and 
of  bandages  ran  out  early  in  the  retreat ;  nor  could  the 
deficiencies  of  regimental  chests  be  supplemented  from 
the  local  resources  of  those  petty  towns  which  the  army 
traversed.^  Many  of  the  soldiers,  who  were  too  ill  to 
walk,  were  left  behind  in  the  utter  dearth  of  carriage ; 
and  most  of  these  died  for  the  want  of  care.'^  A  very 
large  proportion  of  the  troops  who  retired  across  the 
Delaware  were  attacked  by  pneumonia,  dysentery,  and 
camp-fevers ;  and  few,  who  once  were  prostrated,  ever 
recovered  and  survived.  During  the  coming  quarter 
of  a  year  three  thousand  deaths  occurred  in  and  about 
Philadelphia,  where  seventy  funerals  sometimes  took 
place  on  the  same  day.  Many  of  those  militiamen, 
who  left  the  ranks  at  one  point  or  another  of  the  retreat, 
carried  away  the  seeds  of  disease  in  their  frames.  They 
died  at  their  homes  in  great  numbers,  and  spread  typhus 
far  and  wide  throughout  the  neighbourhoods  where  they 
resided.^  In  December  1776  there  existed  a  wellnigh 
universal  impression  that  the  military  power  of  the 
Americans  had  been  mortally  stricken.  A  friendly 
hand  likened  the  remains  of  their  army  to  a  tribe  of 
wandering  Arabs.  "  The  Rebels,"  (a  Tory  journaHst 
wrote,)  "are  mouldering  away  like  a  rope  of  sand. 
With  the  most  impotent  bravadoes  they  have  not  had 

the  Revolutionary  army.  As  one  of  them  "  had  no  clothes  fit  for  the 
camp,  the  sisters  had  a  black  and  white  sheep  brought  from  the  pasture 
and  clipped,  and  within  twenty-four  hours  had  spun,  woven,  and  made  up 
a  suit  of  mixed  grey  clothes  for  the  brother  to  go  to  the  war  in."  Such, 
and  no  better,  was  the  outfit  of  many  a  \ioox  lad  who,  within  a  month  after 
he  crossed  the  Delaware,  was  lying  in  the  Philadelphia  cemetery. 

^  The  American  Archives  for  October  1776. 

^  According  to  a  letter  from  Paul  Wentworth,  among  the  Auckland 
Manuscripts,  "  Rhubarb,  Ippecacuana,  and  Globar  Salts  "  then  made  up 
almost  the  whole  furniture  of  an  apothecary's  shop  in  the  rural  districts 
of  the  most  civilised  and  thriving  colonies. 

*  Colonel  Enoch  Markham  ;    December  14,  1776. 

*  Ambrose  Serle  to  Lord  Dartmouth  ;    March  20,  1777. 


SUFFERINGS   OF   THE   INHABITANTS  2/ 

the  spirit  to  make  anything  like  a  stand  in  a  single 
encounter.  Mr.  Washington,  with  about  two  thousand 
poor  wretches  who  can  get  no  subsistence  except  by  fol- 
lowing him,  has  fled  into  Pennsylvania."  ^ 

Howe's  easy  and  triumphant  advance,  and  the  hard- 
ships of  Washington's  retreat,  were  in  no  small  part 
due  to  the  apathy  and  indifference  of  New  Jersey.  The 
middle  colonies  did  not  share  the  revolutionary  enthu- 
siasm of  New  England ;  and  their  inhabitants,  who 
always  had  been  a  peace-loving  folk,  were  not  inflamed 
by  the  mutual  pugnacity,  and  even  ferocity,  which  made 
Whig  and  Tory  fight  each  other  to  the  death  in  Georgia 
and  the  Carolinas.  The  citizens  of  the  Jerseys,  (as  an 
English  of^cer  described  them  in  September  1776,)  were 
a  very  good  sort  of  people ;  very  industrious,  and  with 
no  great  stomach  towards  the  war.  Their  country,  be- 
fore it  was  desolated  by  the  invasion,  had  been  termed 
the  garden  of  America.^  They  themselves  possessed 
those  milder  virtues  which  belong  to  the  small  propri- 
etor in  a  prosperous  rural  district,  together  with  his 
modest  ambition  of  ranking  as  a  tranquil  and  obscure 
supporter  of  the  winning  side  ;  and,  in  their  estimation, 
that  side  was  no  longer  the  American.  General  Greene 
declared  that,  if  New  England  had  been  the  seat  of 
hostilities,  the  Provincials  would  not  have  been  under 
the  necessity  of  retreating  more  than  six  or  seven 
leagues ;  but  the  fright  and  disaffection  were  so  great 
in  the  Jerseys  that  Washington,  in  his  rearward  march 
of  over  a  hundred  miles,  was  never  joined  by  more 
than  a  hundred  men.^  On  the  thirtieth  of  November 
a  proclamation  was  put  forth,  signed  by  the  British 
General,  and  by  his  brother.  Lord  Howe ;  —  a  family 
name  which  inspired  respect,  and  something  of  affec- 
tion, among  Americans  who  were  not  stiff  and  deter- 
mined partisans  of  the  Revolution.     A  free  pardon,  and 

'  Nnv  York  Mercury  ;  December  23,  1776. 

"^  Travels  through  (he  Interior  Parts  of  America  ;  Vol.  II.,  Letter  58. 

^  Letter  from  General  Greene;   December  21,  1776. 


28  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  assured  enjoyment  of  liberty  and  property,  were 
promised  to  all  who  within  sixty  days  would  subscribe 
a  declaration  of  loyalty  to  his  Majesty ;  and  the  offer 
included  even  those  who  had  borne  arms  against  the 
Crown.  During  the  best  part  of  a  fortnight,  adhesions 
came  in  at  the  rate  of  three  or  four  hundred  in  the 
twenty-four  hours.  Colonel  Enoch  Markham,  who  was 
stationed  at  Perth  Amboy  on  the  mouth  of  the  Raritan 
river,  had  infinite  trouble  from  dawn  to  bed-time,  swear- 
ing in  the  neighbours,  and  signing  their  certificates. 
That  gallant  old  soldier,  —  who,  like  the  true  brother 
of  an  English  Archbishop,  had  faith  in  the  permanent 
efficacy  on  the  human  conscience  of  oaths  of  Allegiance 
and  Supremacy,  —  drew  up  an  additional  attestation  of 
his  own,  which  he  imposed  upon  active  and  notorious 
rebels  before  consenting  to  accept  their  submission. 
The  farmers  of  New  Jersey,  however,  did  not  look  very 
critically  into  the  exact  wording  of  an  engagement 
which  secured  their  persons  from  imprisonment,  and 
professed  to  guarantee  their  homes  against  pillage. 
Unless  the  wheel  of  fortune  made  a  speedy  and  most 
unHkely  turn,  it  seemed  as  if  there  would  be  a  very 
small  minority  of  non-jurors  left  throughout  the  entire 
province.  "The  conduct  of  the  Jerseys,"  (so  Wash- 
ington told  his  brother,)  "  has  been  most  infamous. 
Instead  of  turning  out  to  defend  their  country,  and 
affording  aid  to  our  army,  they  are  making  submissions 
as  fast  as  they  can.  If  the  Jerseys  had  given  us  any 
support,  we  might  have  made  a  stand  at  Hackensac, 
and  after  that  at  Brunswick ;  but  the  few  militia,  that 
were  in  arms,  disbanded  themselves  and  left  the  poor 
remains  of  our  army  to  make  the  best  we  could  of  it."^ 

^  Letter  to  John  Augustine  Washington  ;  Camp  near  the  Falls  of 
Trenton,  December  1776. 

In  the  course  of  that  same  week  General  Macdougal  reported  to  Wash- 
ington from  Morristown  that  the  New  Jersey  Militia  there  had  fallen  to 
two  hundred.  "  When  I  anticipate,"  he  said,  "  the  bad  consequences  that 
will  result  to  the  common  cause  from  the  submission  of  this  State,  it 
renders  me  almost  unfit  for  any  business.  The  Northern  expedition  of 
last  year  cost  me  my  eldest  son,  and  the  capture  of  the  other." 


SUFFERINGS   OF  THE  INHABITANTS  29 

Whether  or  not  the  people  of  New  Jersey  deserved 
that  exceedingly  strong  adjective  which  the  angry  and 
despondent  Washington  applied  to  their  conduct,  most 
undoubtedly  the  course  which  they  had  chosen  to  pur- 
sue entailed  upon  their  province  severe  and  instant 
penalties.  The  Royal  army  included  in  its  composition 
an  element  of  violence  and  rapacity,  which  five  long 
months  of  impunity  had  fostered  and  emboldened. 
Our  foreign  auxiliaries  brought  with  them  to  America 
certain  ideas  and  habits  alien  to  the  creed  and  customs 
of  a  British  army.  Their  officers  had  the  military  aristo- 
crat's contempt  for  civilians,  and  especially  for  peas- 
ants ;  and,  when  the  peasant  was  a  rebel  as  well,  they 
regarded  him  as  a  being  with  no  rights,  no  feelings 
which  deserved  consideration,  no  claim  to  decent  treat- 
ment, and  no  property  that  he  could  call  his  own  when 
once  a  well-born  captain  or  lieutenant,  who  served 
the  Elector  of  Hanover,  had  done  him  the  honour  of 
stepping  across  his  threshold.  Even  the  most  well 
conducted  of  the  soldiers  could  not  be  expected  to  main- 
tain a  higher  standard  of  honesty  and  humanity  than 
was  recognised  by  those  to  whom  they  looked  for  an 
example.  During  the  whole  of  the  voyage  from  their 
distant  home  the  Germans,  —  officers  and  privates, 
better  or  worse,  alike,  —  had  consoled  the  tedium  and 
discomfort  of  their  life  at  sea  by  picturing  America  as 
a  Promised  Land,  whose  inhabitants  had  forfeited  all 
title  to  its  possession  by  wicked  ingratitude  towards 
their  rightful  sovereign.  When  they  entered  New 
York  Bay,  and  looked  around  them,  the  aspect  of  the 
inheritance,  which  they  proposed  to  occupy,  exceeded 
their  brightest  and  most  sanguine  anticipations.  They 
were  much  struck,  (we  are  told,)  by  the  appearance  of 
wealth  and  plenty  which  they  found  on  Statcn  Island ; 
by  the  commodious  houses,  embowered  in  gardens  and 
orchards ;  and  by  the  light  waggons,  painted  red,  and 
drawn  at  a  brisk  trot  by  pairs  of  small,  neat  horses. 
They  bade  each  other  remark  that  a  colonist,  who  was 
nothing  more  than  a  farmer  or  a  dairyman,  lived  in  as 


30  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

good  style  as  a  German  country  gentleman.  They  de- 
clared it  to  be  inexplicable  that  people  should  revolt 
against  a  Government  under  which  they  enjoyed  so 
many  blessings ;  ^  but,  though  such  perversity  was  not 
capable  of  explanation,  it  was  none  the  less  highly  con- 
venient for  a  gallant  adventurer  who  wanted  to  settle 
down  in  affluence  and  security  when  once  his  campaigns 
were  over.  "  Abuse  of  the  rebels,"  (said  a  Loyalist  in 
Government  employment,)  '*  and  the  hope  of  plunder, 
—  for  I  hear  that  all  the  Hessian  common  soldiers  have 
a  notion  of  making  their  fortunes,  —  have  stimulated 
them  to  such  a  degree  as  by  no  means  inclines  them  to 
show  tenderness  and  mercy.  They  are  very  expert  in 
foraging,  and  have  made  good  use  of  their  time.  The 
company  and  example  of  the  British  troops  have 
hitherto  prevented  all  excessive  cruelties."^ 

That  was  written  early  in  September ;  and,  some  two 
months  afterwards,  the  Hessians  crossed  the  Hudson. 
To  do  their  impartiality  justice,  they  left  behind  them 
on  the  east  of  the  river  very  little  moveable  property, 
belonging  to  the  Tories  of  New  York  province,  which 
it  repaid  them  to  take  ;  and  now,  without  delay,  disguise, 
or  pity,  they  fell  beak  and  claw  upon  New  Jersey. 
Their  behaviour  in  that  unlucky  colony  aroused  a  chorus 
of  indignation  in  all  the  thirteen  States,  the  echo  of 
which  has  ever  since  gone  rolling  down  on  the  stream 
of  history  and  popular  tradition.  The  outcry  of  anger 
and  disapprobation  was  swelled  by  the  voices  of  English- 
men and  colonial  Loyalists,  whose  shame  and  compunc- 
tion at  the  military  licence  practised  by  their  own  allies 
found  vent  in  protests  more  strongly  worded  than  any- 
thing which  had  been  dictated  by  the  resentment  of 
American  Whigs.  Before  Cornwallis  had  penetrated  as 
far  south  as  Newark,  the  Deputy  Adjutant  General  of 
the  British  army  confessed  that  his  Lordship  would  not 
be  able  to  restrain  the  troops  from  plundering  the  coun- 
try, now  that  their  excess  in  that  respect  had  already 

^  Chapter  v.  of  The  Hessians  ;  by  Edward  J.  Lowell. 

2  Ambrose  Serle  to  Lord  Dartmouth  ;   September  5,  1776. 


SUFFERINGS   OF   THE  INHABITANTS  3 1 

been  carried  to  an  unjustifiable  extent.^  In  warmer  and 
less  official,  but  not  more  honest  and  honourable, 
language  Judge  Jones  declared  that  the  war  was  levelled 
not  so  much  at  rebellion,  as  at  his  Majesty's  loyal  sub- 
jects within  the  lines  ;  against  all  persons  wherever  the 
army  moved  ;  against  erudition,  religion,  and  literature 
in  general.  Public  libraries,  (said  the  indignant  Tory,) 
were  robbed,  colleges  ruined,  and  churches  of  all 
denominations  burned  and  destroyed. 

In  those  passionate  words  there  was  emphasis,  but  no 
exaggeration.  On  the  seventh  of  December  Howe's 
army  took  possession  of  Princeton,  a  seat  of  learning 
and  culture  which  was  the  pride  of  the  central  colonies. 
The  female  camp-followers,  who  in  the  friendly  city  of 
New  York  sold  the  choicest  books  in  three  great  public 
Hbraries  for  the  price  of  a  glass  of  gin  or  a  morsel  of 
finery,  had  learned  to  regard  the  collections  preserved 
in  an  academic  building  as  their  special  and  familiar 
prey ;  and  their  own  view  of  the  matter  was  shared  by 
those  less  decently-behaved  soldiers  who  were  their  bullies 
and  their  admirers.  Between  them  they  soon  gutted 
the  library,  the  museum,  and  the  lecture-rooms  ;  car- 
ried off  or  destroyed  every  volume  upon  the  shelves ; 
and  broke  up  all  the  philosophical  and  mathematical 
instruments  for  the  sake  of  the  brass  fittings.  Among 
other  scientific  treasures  there  perished  a  "celebrated 
orrery,  made  by  Rittenhouse,  said  to  be  the  best  and 
finest  in  the  world."  ^  A  more  pathetic  calamity,  to  the 
mind  of  a  classical  scholar,  was  the  profanation  and 
pillage  of  the  residence  occupied  by  the  distinguished 
President  of  the  College.  He  had  called  his  dwelHng 
Tusculum,  and  had  endeavoured,  —  as  far  as  might  be 
done  at  that  distance  from  Italian  antiquarian  shops,  and 
Birmingham  and  Leipsic  printing-houses,  —  to  render  it 
worthy  of  the  name  by  the  character  and  value  of  the 
decorations  and  contents.     What  took  place  at  Princeton 

^  Journal  of  Major  Stephen  Kemble  ;    November  24,  1776. 
'^"History   of   liurope "  in    the    Annual   Register   for    1777.     Jones's 
History  of  New  York  ;  Vol.  I.,  chapter  vii. 


32  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

was  repeated  in  every  cluster  of  houses  situated  on  or 
near  the  roads  along  which  the  Royal  army  advanced. 
A  single  representative  passage  may  be  quoted  from 
one  among  an  infinite  number  of  contemporary  letters 
which  all  gave  the  same  monotonous  recital  of  anarchy, 
oppression,  and  misery.  "  The  fine  settlements  of 
Maidenhead  and  Hopewell  have  been  broken  up.  The 
houses  are  stripped  of  every  article  of  furniture ;  and 
what  is  not  portable  is  entirely  destroyed.  The  stock 
of  cattle  and  sheep  are  drove  off ;  every  article  of  cloth- 
ing and  house-linen  seized  and  carried  away.  Scarce  a 
soldier  but  what  has  a  horse  loaded  with  plunder. 
Hundreds  of  families  are  reduced  to  poverty  and  ruin, 
and  left  at  this  inclement  season  to  wander  through  the 
woods  without  clothing."  ^ 

When  December  was  half  through,  the  campaign, — 
so  far  as  the  course  of  events  was  under  Howe's  con- 
trol, —  came  to  an  end.  The  Royal  army  was  distributed 
among  farms  and  hamlets  up  and  down  New  Jersey,  to 
remain  under  cover  of  a  roof,  and  to  live  at  rack  and 
manger,  until  the  spring  should  arrive.  The  condition 
of  the  local  population,  so  far  from  mending,  grew  more 
intolerable  than  ever.  The  colonists  eagerly  and  wist- 
fully put  forward  their  claim  to  that  immunity  from 
rapine  and  confiscation,  which  had  been  promised  them 
when  they  made  their  submission  and  took  the  oath  of 
loyalty.  But  a  German  fusilier  could  no  more  read  a 
protection-paper  drawn  up  in  English  than  if  it  had 
been  a  Baskerville  Virgil  from  the  wreck  of  President 

^  Letter  in  the  American  Archives;  December  12,  1776.  According 
to  a  trustworthy  spectator,  the  process  of  collecting  booty  had  by  this  time 
been  developed  into  a  systematic  business.  "  I  saw  the  soldiers  plunder- 
ing the  houses,  —  the  women  of  the  village  trembling  and  weeping,  or  fly- 
ing with  their  children.  A  scene  of  promiscuous  pillage  was  in  full 
operation.  Here  a  soldier  was  seen  issuing  from  a  house  armed  with  a 
frying-pan  and  gridiron,  and  hastening  to  deposit  them  with  the  stove 
over  which  his  help-mate  kept  watch.  The  women  who  had  followed  the 
army  assisted  their  husbands  in  bringing  the  furniture  from  the  houses,  or 
stood  sentinels  to  guard  the  pile  of  kitchen  utensils,  or  other  articles, 
already  secured  and  ciaimed  by  right  of  war."  Dunlap's  History  of  (hi 
American  Theatre, 


SUFFERINGS   OF  THE  INHABITANTS  33 

Witherspoon's  study  in  Tusculum  ;  and  he  most  certainly 
would  not  go  out  of  his  way  to  find  a  British  officer  who 
might  explain  to  him  the  contents  of  the  document. 
Wherever  Hessians  were  billeted,  they  at  once  made 
free  with  money  and  valuables ;  they  inventoried,  and 
began  to  pack  up,  the  furniture ;  and  they  detected 
hidden  deposits  of  domestic  stores  and  precious  metals 
with  an  instinct  which  to  their  unhappy  hosts  seemed 
nothing  short  of  infernal.  Under  the  odious  recruiting 
system  that  then  prevailed  in  Central  Europe,  most 
German  regiments  comprised  a  dangerously  large  infu- 
sion of  the  refuse  of  the  street  and  the  sweepings  of  the 
jail.  There  were  ruffians  and  vagabonds  in  the  ranks 
whose  presence  as  guests  was  a  torment  and  a  terror  to 
quiet  colonial  households.  America  rang  with  the  story 
of  incidents  that  were  maddening  to  a  proud,  a  strict, 
and  a  self-respecting  people ;  whose  home  was  their 
shrine ;  whose  wives  were  their  counsellors  and  true 
helpmates  ;  and  whose  children  were  tenderly  cherished, 
and  carefully  instructed  in  religion  and  at  least  the 
elements  of  learning,  under  a  system  of  education 
which,  rude  and  imperfect  as  compared  with  modern 
requirements,  was  superior  to  anything  then  existing  in 
the  rural  districts  of  most  European  kingdoms.  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  who  followed  Howe  as  Commander-in- 
Chief  in  America,  and  who  succeeded  to  the  inheritance 
of  all  his  blunders  and  negligences,  regarded  the  wrath 
and  distrust  engendered  by  the  lamentable  occurrences 
in  New  Jersey  as  the  most  hopeless  feature  in  the 
impossible  situation  which  was  left  for  him  to  encounter. 
"  Unless,"  he  wrote,  "  we  would  refrain  from  plunder, 
we  had  no  business  to  take  up  winter-quarters  in  a 
district  we  wish  to  preserve  loyal.  The  Hessians 
introduced  it." 

That  was  a  point  which  has  never  been  disputed. 
Writers  of  all  parties  and  of  both  nations,  and  eye-wit- 
nesses of  every  profession  and  calling,  —  whether  they 
wore  a  red  coat,  or  buff  and  blue,  or  the  drab  of  a 
Quaker,  or  the  sombre  garb  of  a  clergyman,  —  united 
V(jl.  hi.  d 


34  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

in  maintaining  that  our  foreign  stipendiaries  were  the 
earhest,  and  incomparably  the  most  flagrant,  offenders 
against  the  dictates  of  honesty  and  compassion.  This 
grave  allegation,  so  far  from  being  refuted,  has  not 
even  been  combated.  No  counter-case  was  so  much  as 
attempted  to  be  made  out  on  behalf  of  the  German 
soldiery ;  and  the  explanation  of  that  silence  is  very 
simple.  When  a  German  prince  had  sent  troops  to 
America,  it  was  to  him  that  the  world  looked  as  the 
natural  guardian  and  vindicator  of  the  military  honour 
of  his  own  subjects ;  but  he,  and  his  courtiers  and  min- 
isters, did  not  conceive  that  military  honour  had  been 
in  any  way  tarnished  by  anything  which  our  auxiliaries 
had  done  in  New  Jersey.  Indeed  a  Hessian  or  Wal- 
decker,  who  was  lucky  enough  to  find  himself  the  tem- 
porary autocrat  of  a  wealthy  American  homestead, 
would  have  been  regarded  by  his  friends  at  home,  and 
especially  by  his  presumptive  heirs,  as  wanting  in  com- 
mon-sense and  family  feeling  if  he  had  neglected  to 
make  the  very  utmost  of  his  facilities.  Robert  Morris 
wrote  to  France  that,  according  to  information  which 
reached  him,  the  British  troops  were  restrained  from 
pillage ;  but  that  the  Hessians  and  other  foreigners 
looked  upon  plunder  as  the  right  of  war,  and  indiscrim- 
inately robbed  all  civilians  with  whom  they  came  in 
contact.  Such  is  the  testimony  placed  on  record  by  a 
leading  statesman  of  the  Revolution ;  and  the  same 
charge  was  urged,  with  far  greater  severity  of  denun- 
ciation, by  Englishmen  who  had  a  stronger  grievance 
against  their  German  allies  than  any  which  could  be 
alleged  even  by  an  American. ^ 

For  the  conduct  of  those  allies  not  only  discredited 
and  weakened  the  British  cause ;  but  it  inflicted  upon 
our  nation  a  still  deeper  injury  by  impairing  the  moral 
tone,  and  relaxing  the  discipline,  of  the  British  army.^ 

1  Robert  Morris  to  the  American  Commissioners  in  France  ;  Decem- 
ber 21,  1776. 

i  «  It  vvas  scarcely  possible  that  the  devastation  and  disorders,  practised 
by  the  Hessians,  should  not  operate  in  some  degree  by  their  example  upon 


SUFFERINGS   OF   THE  INHABITANTS  35 

Before  very  long,  in  the  ranks  of  that  army,  the  inevi- 
table contagion  of  remunerative  and  unpunished  licence 
generated  a  constantly  increasing  number  of  marauders. 
And  yet  those  Englishmen,  who  followed  the  bad  ex- 
ample of  their  German  comrades,  imitated  them  but 
tamely,  and  with  half  a  heart.  A  Pennsylvanian  Whig, 
—  whose  mind  was  perfectly  impartial  as  between  the 
nationaUties  which  composed  the  Royal  army,  and  who 
had  disagreeably  advantageous  opportunities  for  watch- 
ing their  respective  methods  of  proceeding,  —  observed 
that  the  Hessians  were  conspicuous  by  their  cruelty 
and  avidity,  but  that  a  mixture  of  generosity,  and  a 
tinge  of  commiseration,  were  noticeable  features  in  the 
most  lawless  of  the  British  soldiers. ^  One  of  our  officers, 
who  had  been  made  prisoner  with  Burgoyne,  in  the 
course  of  his  captivity  slept  at  the  mansion  of  a  Jersey 
planter,  who.  Loyalist  as  he  was,  had  suffered  like  others 
during  the  invasion  and  occupation  of  his  native  prov- 
ince in  December  1776.  The  English  depredators, 
(so  this  gentleman  told  his  guest,)  only  pilfered  chickens 
and  pigs;  but  the  Hessians  went  into  houses,  broke 
open  wardrobes  and  drawers,  and  took  away  silver 
plate,  clothes,  and  any  object,  —  small  or  large,  light  or 
heavy,  — which  would  tempt  a  pawnbroker.  He  related 
that  he  saw  some  Germans  enter  a  house  which  had 
been  abandoned  by  the  owner,  in  which  had  been  left 
an  eight-day  clock,  and  a  few  tables  and  chairs.  He 
shortly  afterwards  observed  one  of  the  soldiers  come  out 
of  the  house  with  the  works  of  the  clock,  the  pendulum, 
and  all  the  leaden  weights.  This  very  considerable 
load,  "  in  addition  to  his  knapsack  and  accoutrements, 
the  fellow  had  near  twenty  miles  to  carry  to  New  York, 

the  British  troops.  It  would  have  been  difficult  to  have  punished  enormi- 
ties on  the  one  side,  which  were  practised  without  reserve  or  apprehen- 
sion on  the  other.  Every  successful  deviation  from  order  and  discipline 
in  war  is  certainly  and  speedily  followed  by  others  still  greater."  "His- 
tory of  Europe  "  in  the  Annual  A'egis/t'r  for  1777;    chapter  i. 

'  The  Common-place  Hook  of  William  Kawle,  (the  elder,)  dated  Octo- 
ber 12,  1781;  an  extract  from  which  has  been  published  by  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania. 

l>  2 


36  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

where  the  most  he  could  possibly  get  for  it  would  be 
three  or  four  dollars."  ^  A  common  musketeer  had 
nowhere  to  pack  his  acquisitions  except  on  his  own 
shoulders,  unless  he  could  steal  a  horse ;  but  there  was 
no  limit  to  the  rapacity  of  his  Colonel,  who  would  not 
find  the  German  Quartermasters  inexorable  if  he  had 
occasion  to  ask  for  the  loan  of  one  of  King  George's 
baggage-waggons.  The  Hessian  brigades,  (according 
to  a  British  writer  of  the  day,)  at  length  became  so  en- 
cumbered with  spoil,  and  so  anxious  for  its  preservation, 
that  it  grew  to  be  a  great  impediment  to  their  military 
operations.^ 

Our  warlike  annals  provide  a  memorable  example  of 
the  policy  which  a  great  general,  who  was  likewise  a 
true  statesman,  would  have  pursued  under  circumstances 
so  fraught  with  scandal  and  the  gravest  public  danger. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1813  Lord  Wellington 
crossed  the  Bidassoa,  and  assailed  Napoleon  within  his 
own  borders.  A  very  large  part  of  the  force,  on  which 
he  relied  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  that  final 
enterprise  which  was  to  crown  and  consummate  the 
long  series  of  his  splendid  exertions,  consisted  of  Span- 
ish troops  who,  under  his  sedulous  care,  had  at  length 
attained  to  a  respectable  point  of  martial  efficacy. 
Unfortunately  those  troops,  now  that  their  turn  had 
come,  not  unnaturally  thought  themselves  justified  in 
exacting  a  payment  on  account  of  that  terrible  score 
which  had  been  run  up  by  the  French  during  their 
protracted  occupation  of  the  Peninsula.  As  soon  as  the 
Spaniards  were  on  Gallic  soil  they  began  to  plunder ; 
and  the  certain  consequences  forthwith  ensued.  Peas- 
ants were  scared  away ;  supplies  no  longer  flowed  into 
the  provision-markets  of  the  English  aiuny ;  and  Wel- 
lington foresaw  that,  unless  he  could  prevent  rapine,  he 
must  forego  the  hope,  (which  was  very  dear  to  him,) 
of  being  regarded  by  a  large  part  of  the  French  popu- 

^  Travels  through  the  Interior  Parts  of  America  ;  London,  1791  ;  VoL 
III.,  LeUer  58. 

^  "  History  of  Europe;  "  Annual  Register  for  1777. 


SUFFERINGS   OF   THE  INHABITANTS  37 

lation  as  their  deliverer  from  a  grinding  military  tyranny. 
The  course  which  he  followed  is  described  by  Sir  Will- 
iam Napier  in  the  language  of  manly  approbation. 
"  He  put  to  death  all  the  Spanish  marauders  whom  he 
could  take  in  the  act,  and  then,  with  many  reproaches, 
and  despite  the  discontent  of  their  generals,  forced  the 
whole  to  withdraw  into  their  own  country.  Morillo's 
division  alone  remained  with  the  army.  These  decisive 
proceedings,  marking  the  lofty  character  of  the  man, 
proved  not  less  politic  than  resolute.  The  French  peo- 
ple immediately  returned,  and,  finding  the  strictest  dis- 
cipHne  preserved,  and  all  things  paid  for,  adopted  an 
amicable  intercourse  with  the  invader."  Wellington's 
action  was  beyond  all  question  wise  and  expedient ;  but 
in  taking  that  action  he  was  mainly  guided  by  the 
primal  and  spontaneous  impulses  of  a  high-spirited 
gentleman,  which  before  everything  else  he  was.  In  a 
letter  addressed  to  some  of  the  Spanish  generals  he 
commented  on  the  wickedness  of  a  system  of  spoliation. 
There  was  much,  (so  he  went  on  to  write,)  which  he 
could  say  against  such  a  system  from  a  political  point 
of  view ;  but  it  was  unnecessary,  because,  careless 
whether  he  commanded  a  large  or  a  small  army,  he  was 
resolved  that  it  should  obey  him,  and  should  not  pillage. 
In  the  autumn  of  18 12  Wellington  had  been  seriously, 
—  and,  as  some  of  his  generals  thought,  unduly  and 
even  unjustly,  —  dissatisfied  by  the  symptoms  of  laxity 
and  insubordination  which  he  detected  among  his  troops 
during  the  retreat  from  Burgos.  He  sent  to  England 
for  a  lawyer  of  established  character,  and  great  ability 
and  industry,  to  fill  the  post  of  Judge  Advocate  in  the 
Peninsular  army.  He  admitted  this  gentleman  to  his 
friendship  and  familiarity,  with  the  result,  and  doubtless 
with  the  intention,  of  securing  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  military  men  for  an  official  whose  functions,  however 
necessary,  were  apt  to  be  unpopular  and  invidious;  and, 
amid  all  his  vast  and  urgent  occupations,  before  con- 
firming or  remitting  a  sentence,  he  read  through 
the   evidence    which    had    been    given    at   the    Courts- 


38  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

martial. 1  Timely  severity,  exercised  with  discerning 
judgement  and  minute  attention  by  a  leader  who  once  a 
month  was  winning  a  brilliant  victory,  soon  restored  disci- 
pline to  a  perfection  which  satisfied  even  Lord  Wellington. 
By  the  time  the  British  crossed  the  Pyrenees,  a  single 
friendly,  though  very  decided,  word  of  admonition  from 
his  lips  was  a  sufficient  check  upon  any  tendency  to 
excesses  and  disorder.^  Officers  and  soldiers  alike  had 
caught  the  spirit  of  their  chief.  A  captain  in  the 
Ninety-fifth  Rifle  Regiment,  which  formed  part  of  the 
famous  Light  division,  was  accompanied  into  France 
by  his  wife,  —  a  Spanish  girl  of  family,  whom  he  had 
rescued  from  the  sack  of  Badajos.  He  was  afterwards 
known  as  Sir  Harry  Smith  of  Ferozeshah  and  Aliwal ; 
and  she  gave  her  name  to  a  very  celebrated  town  in 
South  Africa.  In  one  French  village  the  young  couple 
were  hospitably  entertained  by  a  widow,  who  brought 

1  Private  Journals  of  Francis  Seymour  Larpent,  Deputy  Assistant 
Judge  Advocate  General  to  the  Army  in  Spain;   London,   1853. 

"  Lord  Wellington,"  wrote  Larpent,  "  told  me  that  I  kept  him  up  read- 
ing Courts-martial  until  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  or  one  in  the  morning  ; 
and  this  every  night."  "  His  papers,"  (the.  Judge  Advocate  says  else- 
where,) "  had  increased  upon  him  in  his  five  days'  absence  ;  and,  when 
I  went  in  with  a  great  bundle  to  add  to  them,  he  put  his  hands  before  his 
eyes  and  said,  '  Put  them  on  that  table,  and  do  not  say  anything  about 
them  now.'"  The  first  of  these  entries  is  dated  halfvi'ay  between  the  battle 
of  the  Nivelle,  and  the  battle  of  St.  Pierre.  On  the  second  occasion  Wel- 
lington had  been  away  from  head-quarters,  conducting  some  very  critical 
manceuvres  with  Soult  for  an  opponent.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  General 
Howe  spending  his  nights  in  such  employment  during  an  interval  in  the 
military  operations. 

2  After  the  first  affair  which  took  place  in  France,  the  prisoners  were 
sent  to  the  rear  in  the  charge  of  a  young  lieutenant,  who  met  the  Com- 
manrler-in-Chief  during  the  march  back  to  camp.  "  Halloa,  sir,"  said 
Wellington  ;  "  where  did  you  get  those  fellows  ?  "  "  In  France,"  replied 
the  subaltern  ;  "  Colonel  Colborne's  brigade  took  them."  "  How  the 
devil  do  you  know  it  was  France  ?  "  "  Because  I  saw  a  lot  of  our  fellows 
coming  into  the  column  with  pigs  and  poultry,  which  we  had  not  on  the 
Spanish  si  le."  Wellington  soon  contrived  to  see  General  Colborne,  and 
told  him  that,  although  his  brigade  had  even  more  than  usually  distin- 
guished themselves,  they  must  respect  the  property  of  the  country.  Col- 
borne said  the  most  he  could  in  defence  of  his  men  ;  which  amounted 
to  something.  "  Aye !  Aye !  "  said  his  Lordship.  "  Stop  it  in  future, 
Colborne."  And  stopped  it  was.  Memoirs  of  Lieutenant- General  Sir 
Harry  Smith;  Vol.  L,  chapter  xiv. 


SUFFERINGS   OF  THE  INHABITANTS  39 

forth  in  their  honour  a  choice  basin  of  Sevres  porce- 
lain. At  their  next  stopping-place  this  object  of  art 
appeared  on  their  breakfast  table ;  and  their  soldier- 
servant,  when  questioned,  admitted  that  he  had  thought 
it  too  pretty  to  be  left  behind  them.  The  lady  at  once 
ordered  out  her  horse  and  groom ;  rode  thirty  miles 
through  a  hostile  country  swarming  with  stragglers ; 
and  came  back  late  at  night  after  having  restored  the 
piece  of  china  to  the  rightful  owner.  "The  story," 
said  her  husband,  "got  wind;  and  the  next  day  every 
officer  in  the  Division  loaded  her  with  praise." 

If  Wellington  could  have  commanded  in  America  in 
the  year  1776,  it  may  confidently  be  asserted  that,  within 
ten  days  after  Fort  Washington  fell,  he  would  have 
been  across  the  Delaware,  which  was  not  more  of  a 
river  than  the  Douro  ;  ^  and  some  very  high-placed  offi- 
cers would  already  have  been  on  their  way  back  to 
Germany  in  disgrace,  beneath  the  hatches  of  a  return 
transport.  A  political  opponent,  generously  attempt- 
ing to  defend  Howe  from  the  charge  of  indifference  to 
crime  and  outrage,  pleaded  that  he  could  not  venture 
to  hazard  the  success  of  the  war,  so  far  from  England, 
and  in  such  precarious  and  critical  circumstances,  by 
quarreling  with  auxiliaries  who  were  nearly  as  numerous 
as  his  own  forces.^  But  the  distance  from  home,  and 
the  important  issues  dependent  on  the  campaign,  were 
so  many  additional  reasons  why  the  Commander-in-Chief 
should  insist  upon  being  the  absolute  master  in  his  own 
household.  Howe  was  so  deferential  towards  his  foreign 
lieutenants,  and  so  heedless  of  his  personal  obHgations, 
that  he  took  no  effective  measures  for  the  protecti(  n 
even  of  those  Loyalists  to  whom  his  honour,  and  that  of 
his  brother,  had  been  pledged.  The  local  population, 
without  distinction  of  party,  or  regard  for  political  ser- 
vices and  merits,  was  delivered  over  to  the  greed  and 

'The  Douro  at  Oporto  was  something  more  than  three  hundred  yards, 
and  the  Delaware  at  Trenton  something  less  than  a  thousand  feet,  from 
bank  to  bank. 

2  "  History  of  Europe  "  in  the  Annual  Register,  1777. 


40  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

insolence  of  the  Hessians.  "  Neither  age  nor  sex,  Whig 
or  Tory,  is  spared.  Indiscriminate  ruin  attends  every 
person  they  met  with.  Children,  old  men,  and  women, 
left  without  a  blanket  to  cover  them  ;  doors  and  windows 
broke  to  pieces ;  the  houses  uninhabitable,  and  the  peo- 
ple without  provisions.  As  a  proof  of  their  regard  and 
favour  to  their  friends  and  wellwishers,  they  yesterday 
burned  the  elegant  house  of  Daniel  Cox  Esquire,  of 
Trenton  Ferry,  who  has  been  their  constant  advocate, 
and  the  supporter  of  Toryism  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try." 1  Ever  since  the  days  of  Tilly  and  Wallenstein, 
—  and  more  recently,  when  Frederic  was  over-running 
Saxony,  and  when  his  own  dominions  were  being  rav- 
aged by  the  Cossacks,  —  robbery  and  devastation  had 
been  familiar  inflictions  to  the  inhabitants  of  Germany. 
But  this  very  short  taste  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was 
a  dose  altogether  too  strong  for  an  English-speaking 
people.  Theirs  was  a  race  which  did  not  breed  willing 
and  passive  victims,  but  men  who  fought  in  defence  of 
home  and  family  more  readily  and  fiercely  even  than  for 
cause  and  country.  From  that  time  forward,  whenever 
a  State  was  menaced  with  invasion,  the  memories  of 
those  winter  months  which  the  Hessians  spent  in  New 
Jersey  seldom  failed  to  rally  the  manhood  of  the  whole 
country-side  to  the  standards  of  the  Revolution. 

1  Letter  in  the  American  Archives  of  December  1776.  Mr.  Daniel 
Cox  retired  to  New  York,  where  he  helped  to  found  the  Board  of  Loyalist 
Refugees,  which  consisted  of  representatives  from  the  different  provinces 
in  America.  He  was  placed  in  the  Chair,  "  to  deprive  him  of  the  oppor- 
tun''y  of  speaking,  as  he  has  the  gift  of  saying  little  in  many  words."  His 
property  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  was  confiscated  after  the  war, 
ar'l  he  died  in  England.     Sabine's  American  Loyalists. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

CHARLES  LEE,   THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY 

The  Americans,  for  the  moment,  had  the  Delaware 
as  a  protection  against  the  invader  ;  but  their  general 
knew  that  for  himself  and  his  army  it  was  not  a  reprieve, 
but  at  the  most  a  respite.  Washington  reported  to  his 
Government  that  the  British  intended  for  Philadelphia. 
All  military  men,  (he  wrote,)  were  agreed  that  the  line 
of  a  river  could  not  be  made  good  for  any  length  of 
time  against  a  superior  force;  and  the  troops  that  he 
commanded  were  far  less  numerous  than  those  which 
were  opposed  to  him.  His  httle  handful  was  daily 
decreasing  by  sickness  ;  and  the  loss  of  Philadelphia, — 
an  event  which  would  be  "  severely  felt  by  the  common 
cause,  and  would  wound  the  heart  of  every  virtuous 
American," — could  only  be  averted  by  the  prompt, 
willing,  and  unsparing  exertions  of  the  people.  He 
had  counted  upon  those  exertions ;  and  he  confessed 
himself  cruelly  disappointed.  The  inhabitants  of  New 
Jersey,  either  from  fear  or  disaffection,  had  with  few 
exceptions  refused  to  take  the  field  against  the  invader ; 
and  even  on  those  who  came  forward  very  little  depen- 
dence was  to  be  placed.  Experience,  (so  he  definitely 
stated,)  had  brought  home  to  his  mind  that  to  rely  upon 
the  militia  was  a  perilous,  and  might  ere  long  prove  to 
be  a  fatal,  delusion.^ 

Even  so,  however,  Washington  ought  not  to  have 
been  at  the  end  of  his  resources  ;  for  there  lay  within 
easy  reach  of  him  a  powerful  body  of  Continental  regu- 
lars upon  whose  services  he  had  every  title  to  reckon. 

1  Washington's  letters  of  December  12,  1776,  to  the  President  of  Con- 
(,'ress,  an'l  to  (jovernor  Trumbull  of  Connecticut. 

41 


42  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

When,  early  in  November,  he  transported  a  portion  of 
his  troops  into  New  Jersey,  he  left  General  Lee  on  the 
east  of  the  river,  in  charge  of  a  force  fully  equal  to 
that  which  marched  under  his  own  immediate  command. 
He  drew  up  for  that  officer's  guidance  a  paper  of 
instructions  in  which  the  closing,  and  the  governing, 
sentence  was  to  the  effect  that,  if  the  Jerseys  were 
invaded  by  the  main  part  of  the  British  army,  Lee  was 
to  come  to  the  rescue  with  all  possible  despatch.  Within 
the  next  ten  days  the  pair  of  forts,  which  were  called 
after  the  two  American  generals,  had  successively  been 
captured  ;  nothing  short  of  a  concentration  of  his  whole 
available  power  could  enable  Washington  even  to 
attempt  to  hold  his  own  against  Cornwallis ;  and  he 
requested  Lee  at  once  to  cross  the  Hudson,  bringing  all 
his  Continental  regiments  with  him.  Four  days  after- 
wards, in  the  secure  belief  that  his  order  was  in  course 
of  being  obeyed,  Washington  wrote  another  most  im- 
portant letter  which  was  intended  to  meet  Lee  on  his 
way  southwards.  But  time  flew  ;  there  were  no  signs 
of  the  approaching  reinforcement,  nor  any  satisfactory 
assurance  that  Lee  had  so  much  as  broken  up  his  camp 
on  the  Westchester  peninsula ;  and  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  could  no  longer  refrain  from  sending  a  message 
which  expressed  anxiety,  and  indicated  a  rising  anger. 
"My  former  letters,"  Washington  wrote,  "were  so  full 
and  explicit  as  to  the  necessity  of  your  marching  as 
early  as  possible  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  add  more  on 
that  head.  I  confess  I  expected  you  would  have  been 
sooner  in  motion."  ^ 

It  might  have  been  thought  that  such  an  appeal, 
indited  by  such  a  hand,  at  a  crisis  when  the  very  exist- 
ence of  the  nation  was  so  gravely  imperilled,  would 
have  overcome  the  irresolution  of  the  most  unstable  and 
the  most  perverse  among  mankind.  But  Charles  Lee, 
who  in   his  own  estimation  was  made  in  no   common 

1  Instructions  to  Major-General  Lee,  November  lo,  1776.  Washington 
to  Lee,  Hackensac,  November  10  ;  Newark,  November  23,  and  again 
November  27.     Washington  to  the  President  of  Congress,  November  23. 


CHARLES  LEE  43 

mould,  considered  himself  absolved  from  all  ordinary 
rules,  and  even  from  those  laws  which  constitute  the 
code  of  military  and  civic  honour.  His  head,  which 
never  could  have  been  a  wise  one,  had  been  turned  by 
early  successes,  and  was  at  present  kept  in  a  state  of 
effervescence  by  a  great  deal  of  extravagant,  and  in 
some  cases  rather  interested,  flattery.  He  was  an 
EngUshman  of  good  family ;  a  member  of  the  class 
which  in  the  eighteenth  century  almost  monopolised 
the  opportunities  for  advancement  and  distinction. 
Lee  was  an  Ensign  at  sixteen,  and  he  became  a  Colonel 
at  thirty.^  In  Portugal,  under  Burgoyne,  he  performed 
a  brilliant  feat  of  arms  which  won  for  him  the  favour 
and  intimacy  of  his  general ;  and,  after  the  Peace  of 
Paris  in  1763,  he  retired  on  half -pay,  and  spent  the  next 
few  years  in  the  pursuit  of  bustle  and  notoriety  in  what- 
ever quarter  of  the  world  events  were  stirring.  Consti- 
tutionally unable  to  stay  long  in  one  place,  or  to  remain 
for  many  months  together  in  the  same  mind,  Lee  ram- 
bled over  Europe,  following  that  which,  (according  to 
his  own  account,)  was  the  career  of  a  paladin,  but  which, 
in  the  view  taken  by  his  matter-of-fact  contemporaries, 
very  closely  resembled  the  life  of  an  adventurer.  He 
accepted  service  as  a  Major  General  of  King  Stanislaus, 
and  fought  in  aid  of  the  Russians,  and  against  the 
Turks  and  the  Confederates,  in  those  confused  and  aim- 
less hostilities  which  ushered  in  the  first  partition  of 
Poland.  He  is  said  to  have  been  concerned  in  a  series 
of  desperate,  and  even  mortal,  duels.  But  what  he 
writes    about   himself   is    not  so    told  as    to    conciUate 

1  According  to  his  official  biography,  Lee  obtained  a  commission  in  the 
army  as  a  child  of  eleven  ;  but  an  unsupported  statement,  drawn  from 
that  work,  is  not  sufficient  authority.  Lee's  mother  was  a  Bunbury  of 
Suffolk,  daughter  of  the  third  baronet.  The  sixth  baronet  married  Lady 
Sarah  Lennox.  "  You  ask  me,"  wrote  Lady  Sarah  in  the  summer  of  1775, 
"  what  I  say  to  my  cousin  Lee.  Why,  I  say  it  is  the  element  for  boiling 
'water  ;  and,  as  I  dare  say  he  persuades  himself  he  is  acting  right,  I  don't 
pity  him  for  falling  in  a  cause  he  thinks  glorious,  as  I  fear  he  will  erelong. 
I  shall  be  very  sorry  for  him  ;  for  he  has  many  good  and  great  qualities 
to  make  up  for  his  turbulent  spirit  and  vanity,  which,  to  be  sure,  are  his 
weak  side.     But  everybody  has  their  faults." 


44  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

belief;  and  fate  allotted  him  exactly  the  biographer 
whom  he  deserved.  The  narrative  compiled  by  the 
editor  of  his  papers  and  correspondence  is  inaccurate, 
insincere,  and  vague  to  nebulosity.^  There  is  a  strange 
contrast  beween  the  reputation  v^hich  enveloped  Charles 
Lee  during  what  may  be  called  the  mythical  and  leg- 
endary period  of  his  history,  and  the  figure  that  he 
presented  after  his  actions  began  to  be  watched,  and 
his  words  noted,  by  the  hard-headed  observers  who  sur- 
rounded him  in  America. 

P>om  the  earliest  days  of  the  Stamp  Act  Lee  declared 
himself  against  George  Grenville's  policy.  In  1767  he 
wrote  from  Warsaw  to  a  nobleman  of  his  acquaintance, 
condemning  what  he  described  as  the  abomination  of 
disfranchising  three  miUions  of  people  of  all  the  rights 
of  men,  for  the  gratification  of  the  revenge  "of  a 
blundering  knavish  Secretary  of  State,  and  a  scoundrel 
Attorney  General."  ^  When  war  was  imminent,  Lee 
had  an  opinion  on  the  merits  of  the  controversy  which, 
for  him,  was  genuine  and  long-lived ;  and  he  likewise 
was  a  disappointed  man,  with  a  grievance  against  his 
own  Government.  A  pertinacious,  and  anything  but  a 
fastidious,  place-hunter,  he  had  of  late  years  got  nothing 
except  a  grant  of  twenty  thousand  acres  in  Florida ;  to 
which  shadowy  benefit  he  would  have  vastly  preferred 
a  patent  place  bringing  in  a  hundred  solid  guineas  at 
the  end  of  every  quarter.  He  had  purchased,  on  bor- 
rowed money,  a  small  landed  property  in  the  colony  of 
Virginia ;  but  he  was  not  a  colonist ;  nor  was  he  any 
relation,  (as  every  American  takes  care  to  assure  him- 
self,) of  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee,  the  right  arm  of 
General  Greene  in  the  Carolinas,  —  or  of  that  magnifi- 
cent soldier  who,  forty  years  ago,  led  the  Confederate 

'^Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  the  late  Charles  Lee,  Esquire,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  of  the  Forty-fourth  Regiment,  Colonel  in  the  Portuguese  service, 
Major-General  and  Aide-de-Camp  to  the  King  of  Poland,  and  Second  in 
Command  in  the  Service  of  the  United  States  of  America  during  the 
Revolution.     Dublin  ;   1 792. 

2  General  Lee  to  Lord  Thanet  ;   May  4,  1767. 


CHARLES  LEE  45 

army  in  the  War  of  the   Secession  to  many  victories, 
and  some  glorious  defeats. 

When  in  1775  Charles  Lee  declared  himself  for  the 
Revolution,  it  was  a  strong  step  for  a  British  officer  to 
take ;  and  he  did  not  under-estimate  the  value  of  the 
support  which  he  bestowed  upon  the  party  of  his  adop- 
tion. Lee  never  concealed  his  belief  that  he  brought  a 
large  contribution  of  social  prestige,  and  military  talent, 
to  the  assistance  of  people  who  were  lamentably  devoid  of 
both.  He  set  a  very  high  price  on  his  personal  sacrifices 
and  his  professional  accomplishments.  While  better 
men,  in  that  season  of  public  distress  and  denudation, 
were  spending  largely  of  their  own,  and  accepting  noth- 
ing from  the  Federal  Treasury,  Lee  exacted  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars  as  compensation  for  the  loss  of  his  estate 
in  England,  (which  was  no  rich  or  unencumbered  posses- 
sion,) and  for  the  surrender  of  the  half-pay  which  he  drew 
as  a  commissioned  officer  in  the  Royal  army.  He  ex- 
pected that,  so  soon  as  he  declared  himself  an  adherent 
of  the  Revolution,  he  would  be  hailed  as  Commander-in- 
Chief  by  acclamation  ;  but  the  gratitude  of  Congress, 
although  excessive,  stopped  short  of  fatuity.  Lee  was 
included  in  the  earliest  list  of  Major  Generals;  a  com- 
pHment  which  he  accepted  with  the  studied  indifference 
of  one  w^ho  five  years  previously  had  received  that  title 
from  the  hands  of  a  European  monarch. 

Lee's  disdain  of  American  soldiershipwas  as  unbounded 
as  his  appreciation  of  his  own  genius  and  capacity.  He 
had  composed  a  treatise  on  a  theme  which  always  has 
had  a  pecuHar  attraction  for  bad  generals  with  facile 
pens,  —  the  nature  and  importance  of  the  military  coup 
d'ceil.  That  was  a  gift  of  which,  when  subjected  to  a 
singularly  decisive  test  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth  Court 
House,  he  proved  to  be  as  utterly  destitute  as  any  theo- 
rist that  ever  wore  a  sword  ;  but  he  none  the  less  sneered 
at  his  colleagues  behind  their  backs,  and  lectured  them 
to  their  faces,  about  the  arts  of  strategy  and  fortification, 
with  a  profuse  assortment  of  technical  verbiage,  and  in 
a  tone  of  insufferable  superiority.     Every  month  that 


46  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

passed,  his  arrogance  and  pedantry  grew  more  and 
more  distasteful  to  men  who  were  making  themselves 
into  good  officers  by  applying  to  the  business  of  war  the 
sound  sense,  and  honest  purpose,  which  had  already 
brought  them  prosperity  in  the  civil  affairs  of  life.  It 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  merchant  or  a  farmer,  who 
had  reluctantly  put  on  a  uniform  because  his  country 
was  in  danger,  should  relish  being  informed  that  one  of 
his  comrades,  whose  antecedents  had  been  exactly  the 
same  as  his,  was  an  ignorant  bumpkin  "  who  did  not 
know  a  sandbag  from  a  c/ievaux-de-frise ;"  and  such 
criticism  would  be  even  less  acceptable  when  it  related 
to  his  own  deficiencies,  and  was  addressed  directly  to 
himself.  Lee  had  been  in  chief  command  at  Charleston 
when  Sir  Peter  Parker  was  so  roughly  handled  in  June 
1776.  The  repulse  of  the  British  squadron  was  mainly 
due  to  Colonel  Moultrie,  who  knew  the  land  and  water 
of  old ;  who  was  acquainted  with  the  character  and 
capabilities  of  the  local  troops ;  and  who,  a  Carolinian 
himself,  extracted  from  a  Carolinian  garrison  the  best 
fighting  which  they  had  to  give.  It  was  Moultrie  who 
assisted  in  building,  and  displayed  rare  skill  and  resolu- 
tion in  defending,  that  fort  on  Sullivan's  Island  which 
still  bears  his  name.  Lee's  part  in  the  affair  was  to 
mar,  and  meddle,  and  scold ;  until  his  gallant  and  blunt 
subordinate  contrived  to  make  him  understand  that  a 
competent  and  zealous  officer,  when  the  enemy  is  within 
gun-shot,  does  not  relish  being  catechised  like  a  cadet  in 
a  military  academy  who  has  fallen  behindhand  in  his 
course  of  studies.^ 

^  "  Does  your  engineer  understand  what  is  the  necessary  degree  of  talus 
for  the  traverse  in  the  fort?  If  I  recommend  the  construction  of  an  SliI- 
vSLXiced  yiec/ie  on  the  right  flank,  will  he  comprehend  it?  For  heaven's 
sake,  Sir,  as  you  are  in  an  important  post,  exert  yourself.  When  you  issue 
orders,  suffer  them  not  to  be  trifled  with.  I  expect  that  you  enforce  the 
execution  of  whatever  is  necessary  for  the  honor  and  safety  of  your  garri- 
son." After  pages  of  this  ludicrously  misplaced  objurgation,  Lee  suddenly 
remembered  that  there  were  limits  to  the  docility  of  a  Southern  gentleman, 
and  apologised  to  Moultrie  for  his  prolixity  and  didactic  manner.  He 
would  have  done  better  to  tear  up  his  letter  ;  but  he  was  of  those  who 
cannot  endure  to  waste  a  literary  composition. 


CHARLES  LEE  47 

Lee  did  not  confine  his  strictures  to  American  generals. 
At  a  moment  when,  overtaken  by  the  consequences  of 
his  faults,  he  had  ample  food  for  reflection  on  his  own 
account,  he  found  leisure  to  compile  an  elaborate  essay 
on  the  imperfections  of  Sir  William  Howe.^  As  an 
executive  soldier,  (he  said,)  Howe  was  all  fire  and  ac- 
tivity, brave  and  cool  as  Julius  Caesar.  But  he  was  sel- 
dom left  to  himself.  Never  had  poor  mortal,  thrust  into 
high  station,  been  surrounded  by  such  fools  and  scoun- 
drels. "M'Kensey,  Balfour,  Galloway,  were  his  coun- 
sellors ;  they  urged  him  to  all  acts  of  harshness.  They 
were  his  scribes.  All  the  damned  stuff  which  was  issued 
to  the  astonished  world  was  theirs.  I  believe  he  scarcely 
ever  read  the  letters  he  signed."  That,  at  all  events, 
was  a  charge  to  which  Lee  himself  was  not  amenable. 
He  and  the  officers  of  his  staff  were  a  happy  family  to- 
gether. Although  very  few  military  people  were  exactly 
to  his  fancy,  he  never  was  dissatisfied  with  his  aides-de- 
camp ;  ^  and  they,  on  their  side,  had  easy  times  under 
a  chief  who,  (if  literary  style  is  any  guide,)  must  un- 
doubtedly have  penned  or  drafted  every  line  of  his  own 
correspondence.  For  Lee's  official  despatches,  and  his 
private  letters,  are  all  in  the  same  characteristic,  and, 
(most  fortunately,)  inimitable  manner.  His  accents, 
always  strident,  touched  their  shrillest  note  wherever  he 
saw  reason  to  apprehend  that  Congress  would  recognise 
the  deserts  of  another  as  above  his  own.      "  Great  God  ! 


1  Lee's  Character  of  General  Howe,  written  in  June  1778.  The  author 
was  then  under  arrest,  and  awaiting  a  Court-martial. 

2  Lee  gave  General  Gates  a  glowing  account  of  the  behaviour  of  his 
own  Staff  during  the  bombardment  of  Charleston.  "Old  Jenifer  and  little 
Nourse  strutted  like  crows  in  a  gutter,  'Ihe  fire  was,  I  assure  you,  very 
hot.  This  affair  is  only  the  prelude  to  a  more  serious  one,  the  event  of 
which  the  great  God  of  battles  only  knows.  1  mean  the  great  and  univer- 
sal God;    not  the  partial  God  of  the  Jews." 

Lee's  religious  views  kept  turning  up  in  very  odd  places.  "  I  desire  most 
earnestly,"  (so  ran  a  ])rovision  in  his  Will,)  "  that  I  may  not  be  buried  in 
any  church  or  church-yard,  or  within  a  mile  of  any  Presbyterian  or  Ana- 
baptist meeting-house;  f(jr,  since  I  have  resided  in  this  country,  I  have 
kept  so  much  bad  company  when  living,  that  1  do  not  chuse  to  continue  it 
when  dead." 


48  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Is  it  come  to  this?  Have  I  not  once  already  waived  my 
military  claims  in  deference  to  the  whim  and  partiality 
of  some  of  your  members  ?  Did  I  not  consent  to  serve 
under  an  old  churchwarden,  of  whom  you  had  conceived 
a  most  extravagant  and  ridiculous  opinion  ?  Your  eyes 
were  at  length  opened,  and  Deacon  Ward  returned  to 
his  proper  occupation ;  and  would  you  now  a  second 
time  load  me  with  a  similar  disgrace  ? " 

That  passage  was  a  fair  specimen  of  the  intemperance 
and  impertinence  with  which  Charles  Lee  discussed 
questions  of  military  promotion.  He  did  not  regard  the 
native  American  officers  as  his  equals.  He  scoffed  and 
railed  at  the  sober  and  religious  among  their  number ; 
he  was  seldom  a  guest  at  the  rather  coarse  and  boister- 
ous festivities  in  which  others  of  them  were  well  satisfied 
to  indulge ;  and  he  was  accused  "of  not  being  ready  to 
show,  under  his  own  roof  or  tent,  sufficiently  frequent 
examples  of  a  more  refined  hospitality.^  With  some  jus- 
tice, but  extraordinary  indiscretion,  he  protested  against 
the  tendency  of  Americans  to  bedeck  themselves  with 
titles  of  office.  He  bade  his  companions  remark  how 
much  more  true  dignity  there  was  in  the  simplicity  of 
address  which  prevailed  among  the  ancient  Romans  ;  — ■ 
how  majestically  Decimus  Brutus  imperator,  and  Caius 
Marcellus  consul,  sounded  as  compared  to  His  Excel- 
lency Major-General  Noodle.^  Lee  himself  pointedly 
affected  the  English  mode  of  dispensing  with  the  desig- 

1  Captain  Graydon,  the  author  of  the  Pennsylvanian  Memoirs,  was  pres- 
ent at  a  barbecue;  an  entertainment  which  consisted  in  a  hog  roasted 
whole,  with  Madeira  wine  in  proportion.  Most  principal  officers  of  the 
army  were  there;  but  not  Washington,  nor  any  of  his  staff.  "Neither," 
(wrote  Graydon,)  "  was  General  Lee  of  the  company.  He  had  been  in- 
vited; but  had  drily  replied,  that  'he  did  not  like  barbecues.'  In  fact, 
they  are  seldom  a  very  Attic  entertainment.  The  party  was  joyous,  and 
pretty  full  of  liquor;  and  I  had  the  chagrin  to  observe  that  the  drummer 
and  hfer  who  made  music  for  them,  and  were  deserters  from  the  enemy, 
were  sneering  at  some  of  the  gentlemen,  who  did  not  entirely  preserve  the 
dignity  of  their  station,  and  were  by  much  too  liberal  in  the  reciprocal  use 
of  the  term  '  General.'  " 

2  Charles  Lee  to  his  Excellency  Patrick  Henry,  jun.,  Governor  of  Vir 
ginia;   July  29,  1776. 


CHARLES  LEE  49 

nations  of  military  rank  in  familiar  conversation,  and 
habitually  spoke  of  "  Mr.  Wolfe,"  "  Mr.  Howe,"  and 
"  my  Lord  Cornvvallis."  He  fondly  hankered  after  the 
lost  popularity  which  he  had  once  enjoyed  in  the  Royal 
army.  He  reluctantly  began  to  perceive,  (a  conviction 
which,  strange  to  say,  was  only  gradually  borne  in  upon 
him,)  that,  when  he  crossed  over  into  the  American  camp, 
he  had  irretrievably  forfeited  the  goodwill  of  gentlemen 
who  still  bore  his  Majesty's  commission.  He  had  made 
his  choice,  and  he  could  not  have  it  both  ways ;  but  he 
never  could  prevail  upon  himself  to  acquiesce  frankly  in 
that  inexorable  fact.  While  acting  the  part  of  an  enemy 
to  Great  Britain,  he  more  or  less  consciously  played  to 
the  British  public  ;  and  his  eagerness  to  renew  friendly 
relations  with  British  officers  at  length  conducted  him 
up  to,  and  over,  the  brink  of  actual  treason  to  America.^ 
If  he  had  had  Arnold's  sinister  courage,  and  his  power 
of  concentrated,  sustained,  and  passionate  resentment, 
he  would  probably  have  taken  a  step  similar  to  that 
which  resulted  in  Arnold's  ruin.  Lee  was  saved  by  his 
poorer,  rather  than  by  his  finer,  qualities  from  the  destiny 
which  otherwise  might  have  befallen  him.  The  catas- 
trophe that  terminated  his  career  was  humiliating  and 
crushing  ;  but  he  was  spared  from  the  less  tolerable  fate 
of  a  detected  traitor,  who  had  escaped  to  live  out  the 
fag-end  of  his  life  in  exile.  A  fine  writer  has  remarked 
that  into  the  story  of  Arnold  there  enters  the  element 
of  awe  and  pity  which  is  an  essential  part  of  real  tragedy; 
but  that  the  story  of  Lee,  from  the  first  act  to  the  last, 
is  little  more  than  a  vulgar  melodrama.^ 

^  Fiske's  American  Revolution;  chapters  vii.  and  x.  'Yy\^x'%  lAierary 
History ;  note  at  the  end  of  chapter  xviii.  Wharton's  Diplo7uatic  Corre- 
spondence; Vol.  II.,  pages  68  to  70,  in  the  note  ;  and  also  section  xi, 
of  the  introduction  to  the  work. 

^  The  American  Revolution,  by  John  Fiske,  chapter  xiv.  In  August 
1778  Lee  was  tried  for  disoI)eying  orders  in  not  attacking  the  enemy  at 
Monmouth  Court  House,  and  for  making  "an  unnecessary,  disorderly,  and 
shameful  retreat."  He  was  fimiid  guilty  and  sentenced  t(j  be  suspended 
fniMi  Ids  command.  That  was  the  last  wliich  was  heard  (jf  him  as  a  soldier. 
"  It  would  have  lieen  impossible,"  (Mr.  I'iske  writes,)  "  for  a  man  of  strong 
military  instincts  to  have  relaxed  his  clutch  upon  an  enemy  in  the  Held,  as 

VOL.  III.  E 


50  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

That  was  the  man  on  whom,  during  three  critical 
weeks,  the  safety  of  America  depended.  At  no  period 
of  his  career  did  he  act,  or  write,  more  entirely  in 
character.  On  the  twenty-first  of  November  Washing- 
ton directed  General  Heath  to  occupy  the  passes  on  the 
road  to  Albany  with  the  whole  of  his  division,  and  called 
upon  Lee  at  once  to  rejoin  the  main  army  with  all  his 
Continental  battalions.  It  was  an  order  that  brooked 
no  delay,  and  admitted  no  doubt  whatsoever  as  to  the 
meaning ;  but  Lee  preferred  to  construe  it  in  a  sense 
which  favoured  the  views  of  his  own  personal  ambition. 
He  informed  one  of  his  correspondents  that  he  had  been 
summoned  southwards  across  the  Hudson,  but  that  he 
regarded  the  message  as  dictated  by  "absolute  insanity;  " 
and  he  desired  Heath  to  detach  two  thousand  of  his 
troops,  and  send  them,  with  a  Brigadier  General,  to  the 
assistance  of  Washington.  Heath  courteously  repre- 
sented that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  neglect  the 
Commander-in-Chief's  specific  instructions,  a  copy  of 
which  he  enclosed  for  Lee's  inspection ;  and  Lee  there- 
upon, piqued  and  baffled,  fell  to  arguing  the  point  in 
harsh  and  overbearing  terms.  "  I  perceive.  Sir,"  he 
wrote,  "  that  you  have  formed  an  opinion  to  yourself 
that,  should  General  Washington  remove  to  the  Straits 
of  Magellan,  the  instructions  he  left  with  you  on  a  par- 
ticular occasion  have  invested  you  with  a  command 
independent  of  any  other  superiors.  I,  of  course,  com- 
mand on  this  side  the  water.  For  the  future,  I  must 
and  will  be  obeyed."  In  thus  addressing  Heath  he 
mistook  his  man.  Eighteen  months  previously  that 
brave  and  modest  veteran  had  willingly  handed  over 
the  chief  command  to  Washington,  in  the  persuasion 
that  it  was  more  honourable  to  obey,  than  to  out-rank, 
a  greater  soldier  than  himself  ;  and  the  answers  which 
he  now  sent  to  Lee's  bullying  requisitions  were  by  no 

Lee  did  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth.  If  Arnold  had  been  there  that  day, 
with  his  head  never  so  full  of  treason,  an  irresistible  impulse  would  doul^t- 
less  have  led  him  to  attack  the  enemy  tooth  and  nail  ;  and  the  treason 
would  have  waited  till  the  morrow," 


CHARLES  LEE  5I 

means  wanting  in  the  natural  eloquence  which  springs 
from  good  sense  and  right  feeling.  And  so,  having 
come  off  second-best  on  paper,  Lee  determined  to  try 
what  could  be  effected  by  the  magic  of  his  bodily  pres- 
ence. On  the  thirtieth  of  November,  —  a  full  week 
after  the  date  on  which  he  ought  by  rights  to  have 
reported  himself  at  Washington's  head-quarters,  —  he 
appeared  at  Peekskill ;  announced  to  General  Heath  his 
intention  of  carrying  off  two  New  England  regiments ; 
and  commanded  that  they  should  be  got  ready  for  the 
march.  Heath  peremptorily  forbade  his  Deputy  Adju- 
tant General  to  take  any  action  in  the  matter ;  and  then, 
turning  towards  Lee,  he  expressed  himself  in  language 
that  there  was  no  mistaking.  "Sir,"  he  said,  "if  you 
issue  orders  here  which  will  break  those  positive  ones 
which  I  have  received,  I  pray  you  to  do  it  completely 
yourself,  and  not  draw  me,  or  any  of  my  family,  in 
as  partners  in  the  guilt."  Those  old-fashioned  words 
went  straight  to  the  mark.  Lee  stepped  into  the  piazza, 
and  observed  to  an  officer  that  General  Heath  was  in 
the  right ;  and  early  next  morning  he  withdrew  his 
demand  for  the  two  regiments,  and  betook  himself 
back  to  his  own    camp  at  White  Plains.^ 

From  that  camp,  save  and  except  for  the  purpose 
of  inciting  a  colleague  to  disobedience,  Charles  Lee 
had  no  present  intention  of  stirring.  In  a  letter  to 
the  American  Adjutant  General  he  adduced  certain 
strategical  arguments  in  defence  of  his  refusal  to  move 
southwards ;  although,  as  he  candidly  admitted,  the 
weight  of  those  arguments  was  perhaps  overbalanced 

^  Heath's  conduct  received  complete  approbation  in  a  letter  written 
from  Newark,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  Novemher,  by  Colonel  Harrison, 
aide-de-camp  and  secretary  of  Washington.  "  In  respect  to  the  troops 
intended  to  come  to  this  riuartcr,  his  Excellency  never  meant  that  they 
should  be  from  your  division.  He  has  wrote  (general  Lee  since  so  fully 
and  explicitly  that  any  misapprehensions  he  may  have  been  under  at 
first  must  be  now  d<jnc  away.  He  will  most  probably  have  reached  Peek's 
Kill  before  now  with  his  division,  and  Ijc  pusliin;,'  to  join  us."  If  such 
was  til.:  expectation  which  prevailed  among  the  1  Icad-cpiarters  Stafi,  they 
had  still  something  to  learn  on  the  subject  of  General  Lee. 


52  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

by  the  consideration  that  his  own  presence  with  the 
main  army  would  do  something  to  supplement  Wash- 
ington's inefficiency.  "  To  confess  the  truth,"  he  wrote, 
"  I  really  think  our  Chief  will  do  better  with  me  than 
without  me."  Lee  had  no  substantial  excuse  for  his 
inaction.  If  he  had  punctually  and  expeditiously  ad- 
vanced along  the  route  which  Washington  had  minutely 
indicated  to  him,^  he  would  have  encountered  no  diffi- 
culty whatsoever.  The  distance  between  White  Plains 
and  Newark  was  almost  exactly  the  same  as  that  which 
was  covered  in  twenty-six  hours  by  General  Craufurd 
and  the  Light  Division,  when  they  marched  to  the 
support  of  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  at  Talavera.  But  the 
obstacles  which  prevented  Lee  from  going  whither  duty 
called  him  were  moral,  and  not  material,  —  within  him, 
and  not  in  front  of  him.  To  his  immense  satisfaction 
he  found  himself  invested  with  a  separate  command  ; 
and  he  was  fully  determined  that  that  command  should 
be  independent,  until  in  the  order  of  events  it  became 
supreme.  Washington,  and  half  his  forces,  had  already 
been  defeated  ;  and  America  would  best  be  served  by 
keeping  from  him  the  other  half  of  an  army  which  he 
was  totally  incapable  of  directing.  That  was  Lee's 
diagnosis  of  the  military  situation;  and  he  was  at  small 
pains  to  conceal  his  opinions  and  projects.  He  openly 
asserted,  —  even  before  hearers  whom  such  expressions 
affected  with  contemptuous  disgust,  —  that  General 
Washington  was  not  fit  to  order  about  a  sergeant's 
guard,  and  that  the  Continental  Troops,  under  such 
leadership,  could  not  hope  to  withstand  the  British 
Grenadiers  and  Light  Infantry.  The  day,  according 
to  Lee's  anticipations,  was  close  at  hand  when  Wash- 
ington's incompetency  would  be  universally  acknow- 
ledged ;  and  on  that  day  he  himself  was  prepared  to 
step  forward  and  save  the  country.  National  gratitude 
would  then  be  the  reward  of  that  prescient  general  who, 
at  the  risk  of  his  own  reputation,  had  preserved  a  body 
of  fine  troops,  intact  and  in  good  heart,  from  the  rout 

1  Washington  to  Lee;  Newark,  November  24,  1776. 


CHARLES  LEE  53 

and  demoralisation  which  must  inevitably  overtake  the 
rest  of  the  American  forces.  A  similar  thought,  justly 
or  unjustly,  was  believed  to  have  governed  Bazaine's 
course  of  policy  in  the  Franco-German  war  of  1870; 
and  all  France  united  to  stigmatise  that  Marshal  as  a 
traitor.  In  November  1776  Lee  already  recognised, 
with  serene  complacency,  the  light  in  which  his  own 
conduct  was  liable  to  be  regarded.  "There  are  times," 
he  wrote,  "  when  we  must  commit  treason  against  the 
laws  of  the  State ;  and  the  present  crisis  demands  this 
brave,  virtuous,  kind  of  treason."  ^ 

In  the  meanwhile  he  could  not  deny  himself  the 
luxury  of  addressing  the  civil  authorities  throughout 
the  States  as  if  he  was  Commander-in-Chief  already. 
He  inundated  America  with  his  imperious  advice,  and 
his  unsparing  and  most  offensive  criticism.  He  wrote 
to  the  authorities  of  Massachusetts  recommending  that 
the  stores  should  be  evacuated  from  the  magazines  at 
Boston,  as  the  city  was  in  danger  of  an  attack  by  the 
enemy's  fleet.  He  informed  them  that  the  officers  of 
their  provincial  regiments  were  lacking  in  spirit,  in- 
tegrity, and  public  virtue ;  and  that,  if  the  men  ran 
away  in  action,  it  was  on  account  of  the  example  set 
them  by  their  superiors.  He  warned  the  Governor  of 
Rhode  Island  that  no  confidence  could  be  placed  in 
New  England  generals.  The  highest  trusts,  (he  com- 
plained,) were  committed  to  those  least  (qualified  to 
exercise  them  ;  although  it  was  an  axiom  in  warfare  that 
"  theory  joined  to  practice,  or  a  heaven-born  genius," 
constituted  the  only  title  for  a  command  in  the  field. 

1  It  is  instructive  to  compare  Lee's  military  action  in  December  1776 
with  a  letter  which,  not  lonjj  before,  he  had  taken  upon  himself  to  send 
to  ("(ingress.  "  For  Heaven's  sake  rouse  yourselves  !  P'or  Heaven's  sake 
let  ten  thousand  men  be  immediately  stationed  somewhere  about  Trenton  ! 
In  my  opinion  the  whole  depends  upon  it."  That  was  written  early  in 
October,  when  the  armies  were  manceuvring  on  the  other  siile  of  the 
Hudson,  and  when  there  was  not  a  Uritish  regiment  within  eighty  miles 
of  Trenton.  Two  months  afterwards,  —  wiien  Trenton  and  Philadelphia 
itself  were  in  imminent  risk  of  capture,  —  the  author  of  this  exhortation 
contrived,  as  far  as  in  him  lay,  that  no  reinforcements  whatever  should 
reach  the  seat  of  danger. 


54  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

He  flatly  refused  to  obey  an  order  which  had  come  to 
him  through  the  agency  of  Nathanael  Greene,  —  whose 
sash  he  was  not  fit  to  tie.  Most  astonishing  of  all  was 
the  correspondence  which  he  exchanged  with  Washing- 
ton's own  Adjutant  General.  Colonel  Reed  wrote  to 
assure  Lee  that  the  safety  of  the  army,  and  the  liberties 
of  America,  rested  upon  him,  and  upon  him  alone. 
"You  have  decision,"  the  Colonel  said;  "  a  quality  often 
wanted  in  minds  otherwise  valuable.  Oh,  General ! 
An  indecisive  mind  is  one  of  the  greatest  misfortunes 
which  can  befall  an  army.  How  often  have  I  lamented 
it  this  campaign  !  "  Lee,  in  reply,  accepted  the  tribute, 
and  concurred  in  deploring  that  fatal  indecision  which 
in  war  was  a  much  greater  disqualification  than  stu- 
pidity, or  even  want  of  personal  courage.  Lee's  answer, 
which  externally  had  been  made  up  in  the  form  of  a 
public  despatch,  was  opened,  in  official  course,  by  the 
aide-de-camp  on  duty,  and  placed  beneath  the  eyes  of 
the  Commander-in-Chief.  Washington  had  a  strong 
regard  for  his  Adjutant  General,  and  set  much  value 
upon  his  abilities.  A  civilian  of  mature  age.  Reed  had 
surrendered  a  most  influential  position  at  home,  and,  at 
the  earnest  request  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  had  ac- 
cepted service  in  the  Staff.  The  confidences  which, 
in  a  weak  moment,  he  had  bestowed  upon  Charles  Lee, 
were  suggested  by  intense  anxiety  for  the  distresses  and 
perils  of  the  cause,  and  were  expressed  with  the  free- 
dom habitual  to  a  politician  of  long,  and  high,  standing 
who  had  not  schooled  himself  to  military  reticence  and 
self-repression.  Of  this  Washington  was  well  aware ; 
and  he  found  no  difficulty  in  ignoring,  and  forgiving,  a 
transient  flash  of  unfriendliness  towards  himself  which 
was  not  accompanied  by  disloyalty  to  the  Republic.^ 

^  It  must  be  remembered,  on  Reed's  behalf,  that  he  was  frank  and  bold 
in  direct  remonstrance  against  what  he  regarded  as  timid  and  dilatory 
strategy.  On  the  twenty-second  of  December,  1776,  he  sent  Washington 
an  appeal  couched  in  vigorous,  and  even  passionate,  language.  "  Our 
affairs,"  he  wrote,  "are  hastening  fast  to  ruin  if  we  do  not  retrieve  them 
by  some  happy  event.  Delay  with  us  is  now  equal  to  a  total  defeat.  .  .  . 
Pardon  the  freedom  I  have  used.     The  love  of  my  country;   a  wife  and 


CHARLES  LEE  55 

Washington  cared  little  what  gossip  might  be  circu- 
lated about  his  indecision  of  character,  if  only  he  could 
have  got  hold  of  those  two  brigades  of  Continental  in- 
fantry which  still  were  idling  at  White  Plains.  On  the 
first  of  December,  in  an  urgent  despatch,  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief certified  General  Lee  that,  from  infor- 
mation not  to  be  doubted,  the  enemy  were  making  for 
Philadelphia.  "  The  force  I  have  with  me,"  he  de- 
clared, "  is  infinitely  inferior  in  numbers,  and  such  as 
cannot  give,  or  promise,  the  least  successful  opposition. 
I  must  entreat  you  to  hasten  your  march  as  much  as 
possible,  or  your  arrival  may  be  too  late  to  answer  any 
valuable  purpose."  That  message,  which  breathed 
a  perceptible  flavour  of  an  impending  Court-martial, 
brought  its  recipient  to  a  semblance  of  compliance.  In 
the  course  of  the  next  two  days  he  crossed  the  Hudson, 
and  began  to  loiter  and  dawdle  down-country  in  the 
direction  of  Trenton ;  marking  the  very  short  stages  of 
his  southward  progress  by  epistles  which  were  each  of 
them  more  absurd  and  improper  than  the  last. 

A  week  after  Lee  started  on  his  expedition,  (and  by 
that  time  he  had  travelled  barely  five-and-thirty  miles,) 
he  informed  General  Heath,  who  was  anything  but  a 
sympathetic  confidant,  that  he  was  in  hopes  of  recon- 
quering the  province  of  New  Jersey,  which  before  his 
arrival  had  been  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  He  was 
just  then  full  of  exhilaration  over  an  unexpected  stroke 
of  business  which  he  had  done  for  his  own  profit  and 
glory.  Sir  Guy  Carleton's  retreat  to  Canada  had  re- 
moved all  hostile  pressure  from  the  northern  quarter. 
So   soon  as  Washington's  entreaty  for   assistance  was 

four  children  in  the  enemy's  hands  ;  the  respect  and  attachment  I  have  to 
you  ;  the  ruin  and  poverty  tliat  must  attend  me,  and  thousands  of  others, 
will  plead  my  excuse  for  so  much  freedom."  That  was  an  unusual  style 
for  a  communication  addressed  by  a  staff-officer  to  the  general  under 
whom  he  served  ;  but  Washington  made  full  allowance  for  the  emotional 
nature  of  a  man  that  he  liked,  and  never  ceased  to  trust.  There  exists  a 
geneious  testimcmy  to  the  merits  of  the  Adjutant  (leneral,  written  by  his 
chief  a  few  weeks  subsequent  to  th<,'  dale  of  Colonel  Reed's  own  unl)e- 
coming  correspondence  with  (leneral  Lee.  Washington  to  the  Prcsidenl 
of  Congress  ;  Morristown,  January  22,  1776. 


56  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

conveyed  to  Albany,  General  Schuyler  responded  without 
an  hour's  hesitation,  and  put  in  motion  such  regiments 
as  he  could  spare,  if  regiments  they  might  be  called. 
The  strongest  of  them  had  been  reduced  by  hardship 
and  disease  below  the  size  of  a  couple  of  companies ; 
but  the  soldiers  who  survived  were  all  the  more  intent 
on  being  in  time  to  help  their  countrymen.  Enfeebled 
in  health,  and  ill  supplied  with  food,  in  a  single  week 
they  accomplished  a  hundred  and  thirty  miles;  until 
they  reached  a  neighbourhood  where  Lee  contrived  to 
lay  hands  on  four  out  of  their  seven  battahons.  He 
attached  them  to  his  own  command,  and  ordered  them 
to  take  their  place  in  his  column  of  march,  where  they 
were  thenceforward  as  completely  out  of  the  game  as 
if  they  had  been  intercepted  and  captured  by  Lord 
Cornwallis.  It  was  a  cruel  injury  to  Washington, 
whose  vexation  was  aggravated  by  the  triumphant  tone 
of  the  despatch  in  which  the  unwelcome  tidings  were 
imparted.  This  addition  to  his  own  army,  (so  Lee 
reported  with  an  excruciating  air  of  self-satisfaction,) 
enabled  him  to  dispose  of  five  thousand  good  troops, 
full  of  fight,  and  glowing  with  patriotism.  He  very 
soon  threw  aside  the  last  pretence  of  subordination. 
On  the  eighth  of  December  he  plainly  notified  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  Congress  that  it  was  no  longer  his  intention 
to  unite  forces  with  Washington ;  and  the  same  post 
carried  the  same  information  to  the  Commander-in-Chief 
himself.  "If,"  (so  that  letter  ran,)  "  I  was  not  taught 
to  think  that  your  army  was  considerably  reinforced,  I 
should  immediately  join  you  ;  but  I  am  assured  you  are 
very  strong,  and  I  imagine  we  can  make  a  better  im- 
pression by  hanging  on  their  rear."  On  the  morning  of 
that  very  day  Washington,  with  an  attenuated  band  of 
famished  and  exhausted  followers,  was  making  his 
escape  across  the  river  Delaware  in  quest  of  a  tem- 
porary and  precarious  refuge  from  destruction. 

Deserted   and   flouted   by   his    principal    lieutenant, 
and  robbed  of  half  his  army,  Washington  was  racked 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  57 

by  solicitude  of  which  no  outward  traces  appeared  in 
his  placid  features,  and  his  composed  and  dignified 
bearing.  Brave  and  patriotic  men,  who  were  them- 
selves in  the  forefront  of  danger  and  responsibility, 
rightly  conjectured,  from  their  own  sensations,  the 
care  and  sorrow  which  underlay  that  calm  exterior. 
"  My  heart  bleeds  for  poor  Washington.  I  wish  to 
God  that  it  were  possible  to  lead  the  fifteen  hundred 
hardy  veterans  you  left  with  me  to  your  assistance,  but 
for  one  day.  But  as  that  is  out  of  my  power  I  can 
only  wish  you  success,  and  assure  you  that  the  post  you 
left  to  my  charge  shall  be  maintained."  Those  words 
were  in  a  letter  addressed  to  General  Gates  by  An- 
thony Wayne,  the  fiery  warrior  to  whose  guardianship 
the  great  national  outpost  of  Ticonderoga  had  been 
committed.  Washington  himself,  in  his  despatches 
of  December  1776,  refrained  to  a  noticeable  degree 
from  the  touches  of  sadness,  and  personal  vexation, 
which  he  sometimes  allowed  to  be  observed  in  him 
under  less  trying  emergencies.  Those  despatches  were 
of  a  multifarious  nature,  voluminous  in  bulk,  and  scru- 
pulously specific  in  detail ;  but  with  never  a  syllable 
more  than  the  elucidation  of  the  subject  demanded. 
They  contained  as  little  as  possible  which  could  dis- 
courage colleagues  and  subordinates  who  needed  all 
the  equanimity  and  hopefulness  that  they  were  able 
to  command.  Where  Washington  had  occasion  to  im- 
press upon  a  correspondent  the  necessity  for  instant, 
and  intense,  exertion  he  would  sketch  the  situation  in 
a  sentence  or  two,  very  sparingly  interspersed  with 
adjectives ;  and  that  situation  was  sufficiently  formi- 
dable without  any  word-painting.^  During  one  short 
moment,    in    the   course    of    those   terrible    weeks,    he 

1  "  It  is  a  matter  of  concern  to  me  that,  in  my  last,  I  directed  you  to 
take  back  any  of  the  militia  designed  for  the  support  of  the  army  under 
my  command,  and  have  to  request  that  you  will  hasten  them  on  with  all 
possible  expedition,  as  I  see  n(j  other  chance  of  saving  I'hiladclphia,  and 
preventing  a  fatal  blow  to  America,  in  the  loss  of  a  city  from  whence  so 
many  of  our  resources  are  drawn."  Washington  to  Major-General 
Spencer  ;   December  22,  1776. 


58  THE  AMERICAN-  REVOLUTION 

unpacked  his  heart  to  his  younger  and  favourite 
brother,  who  never  allowed  a  secret  entrusted  to  him 
by  George  Washington  to  get  abroad,  whether  that 
secret  referred  to  facts  or  to  feelings.  "  You  can 
form,"  (the  General  wrote,)  "  no  idea  of  the  perplexity  of 
my  situation.  No  man,  I  beUeve,  ever  had  a  greater 
choice  of  difficulties,  and  less  means  to  extricate  him- 
self from  them.  However,  under  a  full  persuasion  of 
the  justice  of  our  cause,  I  cannot  entertain  an  idea  that 
it  will  finally  sink,  though  it  may  remain  for  some  time 
under  a  cloud."  ^ 

That  self-control  which  the  Commander-in-Chief 
practised  as  a  duty,  and  which  well  became  him,  was 
not  to  be  looked  for  in  writers  of  the  revolutionary 
party  who  held  no  official  position  that  bound  them  to 
dissimulate  their  anxiety,  and  to  weigh  their  phrases. 
The  agony  of  the  crisis  lent  to  their  archaic,  and  some- 
what artificial,  rhetoric  a  note  of  very  genuine  power 
and  passion.  The  most  telling  appeals  in  the  pages  of 
the  public  journals  were  addressed  to  those  of  their 
readers  who  lived  in  closest  proximity  to  the  scene  of 
action.  What  apology,  (it  was  asked,)  could  Pennsyl- 
vanians  make  to  their  brethren  in  Virginia,  and  South 
Carolina,  and  Massachusetts  Bay,  who  themselves  had 
repelled  the  invader  from  their  coasts,  if  he  was 
enabled,  through  local  apathy  and  cowardice,  to  get 
possession  of  the  vitals  of  the  Continent }  "  Such  an 
event  would  render  the  name  of  a  Pennsylvanian  as 
infamous  as  that  of  an  ancient  Cappadocian.  Let 
the  words  of  the  prophet  sound  perpetually  in  our 
ears :  '  Cursed  is  he  that  doeth  the  work  of  the 
Lord  deceitfully,  and  keepeth  back  his  sword  from 
blood.'  "  "  Should  you  now,"  (so  ran  another  pas- 
sage,) "  by  a  miserable  lassitude  suffer  your  exulting 
enemy  to  cry  Victory,  what  must  be  your  miserable 
lot }  You  will  be  a  hissing  among  the  nations,  and  the 
despised  of  the  world.     '  He  is  an  American  :  he  dared 

1  Letter  to  John  Augustine  Washington  ;  Camp,  near  the  Falls  of  Tren- 
ton, December  i8,  1776. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  59 

not  be  free,'  will  be  a  proverb  translated    into   every 
language."  ^ 

These  incitements  and  admonitions  were  not  super- 
fluous ;  for  the  fears  which  pervaded  Philadelphia  were 
fast  assuming  the  dimensions  of  a  panic.  The  Whigs 
were  crestfallen  and  desponding,  and  profoundly  dis- 
trustful of  the  neighbours  among  whom  they  lived. 
Those  numerous  and  very  influential  citizens,  who  had 
opposed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  saw  that 
an  opportunity  had  now  arrived  for  assaiHng  the  Rev- 
olution with  such  weapons  as,  in  each  respective 
case,  their  conscience  permitted  them  to  wield.  The 
Quakers,  with  the  courage  which  is  never  wanting 
to  them,  conspired  in  the  face  of  dayUght.  Their 
Meeting  for  Sufferings,  under  date  of  Twelfth  Month 
Twentieth  1776,  cafled  upon  all  the  members  of  their 
Society  to  withstand  the  arbitrary  injunctions  of  men 
who  assumed  to  themselves  the  power  of  compelling 
others  to  take  part  in  war,  and  who  imposed  tests  not 
warranted  by  the  precepts  of  Christ,  or  by  the  laws  of 
that  happy  political  constitution  under  which  the  Friends 
had  long  enjoyed  tranquillity  and  peace.  Other  Loyalists, 
—  whose  bellicose  intentions  were  not  a  more  serious 
menace  to  the  American  cause  than  the  meek,  but 
invincible,  ill-will  of  the  Quakers,  —  made  active  prep- 
arations to  rise  in  arms  as  soon  as  the  British  should 
come  within  striking  distance  of  the  Pcnnsylvanian 
capital.  These  people  had  skated  up  and  down  the 
Delaware,  as  boys  and  men,  almost  every  winter  of  their 
lives  ;  and  they  confidently  anticipated  that  the  first  hard 
frost  would  bring  CornwalUs  and  his  infantry  dry-footed 
across  the  river.  The  condition  of  the  streets  was  so 
alarming  that  General  Israel  Putnam,  whom  Washing- 
ton had  placed  over  the  city  as  military  Governor, 
gave  orders  that  any  of  the  inhabitants  who  appeared 
abroad  after  ten  o'clock  at  night  should  be  arrested 
and    detained.       Putnam's   ostensible    mission    was   to 

^  Hamprlen  to  the  Associators  of  Pennsylvania  ;  Epaminondas  to  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania  ;   November,  and  December,  1776. 


60  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

fortify  the  approaches  to  the  suburbs  with  a  line  of 
earthworks ;  but  the  real  motive  of  his  appointment 
was  a  hope  that  his  vigour  and  popularity  might  do 
something  to  restore  public  confidence,  —  a  confidence 
which  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  old  general 
himself  was  very  far  from  sharing.^  A  report  had 
been  diligently  put  about  that,  rather  than  surrender 
Philadelphia  to  the  British,  the  Continental  troops 
would  destroy  the  town.  Washington  judged  it  neces- 
sary publicly  to  refute  the  story ;  and,  by  his  direction, 
Putnam  announced  that  he  should  consider  an  attempt 
to  burn  the  city  as  a  crime  of  the  blackest  dye,  and 
would  punish  capitally,  without  ceremony,  any  incen- 
diary who  had  "  the  hardiness  and  cruelty  "  to  engage 
in  such  an  enterprise.^ 

Scared  by  the  alarm  of  fire,  and  by  the  more  immi- 
nent probability  of  a  visitation  from  the  Hessians,  fami- 
lies of  all  ranks  loaded  waggons  with  their  furniture, 
and  fled  forth  into  the  comparative  security  of  the  rural 
districts.  Apprehension,  and  even  despair,  affected 
some  who  ought  to  have  been  proof  against  the  conta- 
gion ;  and  more  especially  certain  politicians  who,  ever 
since  Philadelphia  was  in  danger  of  attack,  had  been 
inditing  heroic  letters,  and  making  very  gallant  speeches. 
A  greal  deal  had  been  said  and  written  about  those 
Conscript  Fathers  who  sate  in  their  porches  awaiting 
the  irruption  of  the  Gauls ;  and  about  the  sale  of  the 
plot  of  land  on  which  Hannibal  was  encamped  outside 
the  walls  of  Rome,  —  that  celebrated  auction  to  which, 
in  the  course  of  the  last  two  thousand  years,  approving 
reference  has  so  often  been  made  by  people  who,  had 
they  been  alive  at  the  time,  would  have  been  the  very 
last  to  come  forward  as  bidders.  On  the  tenth  of 
December,  Congress   solemnly  resolved  to  defend  the 

^Ambrose  Serle,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  Dartmouth  of  December  3,  1776, 
reported  some  remarks  which  Putnam,  while  lodging  in  the  house  of  a 
rich  New  Jersey  Loyalist,  was  said  to  have  made  concerning  the  hopeless 
situation  of  the  Revolutionary  army. 

2  Order  of  December  13,  1776. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  6 1 

Federal  Capital  with  all  the  force  that  could  be  mus- 
tered, and  fell  valiantly  to  the  work  of  assembling  and 
organising  a  garrison.  On  the  eleventh  of  the  month, 
they  invited  the  several  States  to  appoint,  each  for  itself, 
a  day  of  fasting  and  humiliation.  During  the  same  sit- 
ting they  carried  a  Resolution  denouncing  as  "  false  and 
malicious  "  a  rumour  that  they  were  about  to  disperse,  or 
adjourn,  from  Philadelphia ;  and  they  requested  the 
Commander-in-Chief  to  publish  their  denial  of  the  cal- 
umny in  a  General  Order  to  his  army.  Washington 
declined  to  adopt  their  suggestion  in  a  letter  marked  by 
admirable  good  sense,  which  he  certainly  did  not  find 
cause  to  regret  having  written.^  After  another  interval 
of  just  twenty-four  hours,  the  very  few  Members  of 
Congress  who  still  were  attending  to  their  duties  voted 
an  adjournment,  and  next  day  transferred  themselves 
southward  to  Baltimore ;  leaving  Robert  Morris,  and 
two  others  of  their  number,  to  act  for  them  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. Their  departure  accentuated  the  terror  in  the 
city,  and  was  very  ill  taken  by  the  army.  "  For  God's 
sake,"  (asked  an  indignant  Colonel,)  "why  did  you 
remove  from  Philadelphia .''  You  have  given  an  invita- 
tion to  the  enemy,  and  have  discovered  a  timidity  that 
dispirits  our  friends.  A  good  face  among  men  in  power 
keeps  up  the  spirits  of  the  people ;  and  one  cheerful 
countenance  may  do  wonders.  I  have  run  off  with  com- 
plaints, and  am  led  to  make  them  by  the  damned  gloomy 
countenances  seen  wherever  I  go,  except  among  the 
soldiers."  2 

On  the  other  side  in  politics  soldiers,  and  civilians  as 


^  Washington  respectfully,  but  very  clearly,  explained  to  the  President 
of  Congress  why  the  Members  should  not  have  made  their  staying  or 
going,  the  subject  of  a  Resolution.  "  Their  remaining  in,  or  leaving, 
Philadelphia  must  be  governed  by  circumstances  and  events.  If  their 
departure  should  become  necessary,  it  will  be  right.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  there  should  not  be  a  necessity  for  it,  they  will  remain,  and  their 
continuance  will  show  the  report  to  be  the  production  of  calumny  and 
falsehood."  Washington  to  the  President  of  Congress  ;  Trenton  Falls, 
December  12,  1776. 

*  Colonel  Cadwalader  to  Robert  Morris  ;   December  15,  1776, 


62  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

well,  wore  beaming  faces,  and  were  liberal  in  their 
exultation  over  the  prospect  of  a  triumph  which  now 
seemed  fairly  within  their  grasp.  There  had  been  one 
short  period  of  the  campaign  when  the  Loyalists  were 
nervous  and  uneasy ;  but,  in  the  main,  they  had  all 
along  made  sure  of  victory.  "The  whole  say  and 
desire  of  the  army,"  (wrote  a  Queen's  Ranger  in  Sep- 
tember,) "  is  to  have  the  rebels  stand  their  ground ;  and 
the  jig  will  be  at  an  end."  As  time  went  forward,  and 
the  Americans  were  decidedly  worsted,  partisans  of  the 
Crown  began  to  speak  as  if  serious  fighting  was  over,  and 
the  hour  of  retribution  had  already  sounded.  Every 
door  in  New  York,  behind  which  there  was  a  family  in 
sympathy  with  rebellion,  had  long  ago  been  marked 
with  a  broad  R ;  and  the  Tories  of  the  city  promised 
that  an  example  should  soon  be  made  of  the  inmates. 
On  the  second  of  December  an  English  field-officer 
wrote  home  that  Mr.  Washington  had  been  seen  retreat- 
ing with  two  brigades  to  Trenton,  which  he  talked  of 
defending ;  but  that  the  revolutionists  were  in  such  a 
panic  that  no  part  of  New  Jersey  could  hold  them,  and 
it  would  require  very  little  pressure  to  make  them  evacu- 
ate Philadelphia.  "The  Congress,"  this  gentleman 
added,  "  consists  now  of  only  seven  members ;  and  they 
are  in  such  consternation  that  they  know  not  what  to 
do.  The  two  Adamses  are  in  New  England  ;  Franklin 
has  gone  to  France ;  Lynch  has  lost  his  senses ;  Rutt- 
ledge  has  gone  home  disgusted ;  so  that  the  fools  have 
lost  the  assistance  of  the  knaves.  However,  should 
they  embrace  the  enclosed  proclamation,  they  may  yet 
escape  the  halter."  In  England  it  was  very  generally 
believed  that  the  flame  of  colonial  resistance  was  flicker- 
ing out,  and  might  at  any  moment  sink  into  ashes. 
Even  Horace  Walpole,  who  always  read  his  news  in  a 
light  the  most  unfavourable  to  the  policy  of  the  Cabinet, 
allowed  that  the  Americans  must  submit  to  such  terms 
as  they  could  obtain  unless  France,  without  reserve  or 
hesitation,  interposed  for  their  benefit.^     Edmund  Burke 

1  Walpole  to  Mann  ;   December  20,  1776. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  63 

knew  the  Stock  Exchange,  not  altogether  from  the  out- 
side ;  and  he  was  already  watching  for  the  moment  when 
the  collapse  of  the  American  cause  should  be  signified 
to  the  London  world  by  an  upward  leap  in  the  price  of 
Consols  which  would  fill  the  pockets  of  speculators 
favoured  with  private  information  from  Downing  Street. 
Government,  (he  said,)  would  no  doubt  make  the  for- 
tunes of  all  their  creatures  by  imparting  to  them  the 
earUest  intelligence. ^ 

The  sky  was  very  black,  and  hope  had  almost  died 
out  from  the  hearts  of  Americans,  when  of  a  sudden 
the  light  broke  forth  in  a  most  unlikely  quarter  of  their 
gloomy  horizon.  A  people  observant  of  anniversaries,  — 
the  best  of  whom  retained  the  old  belief  that  their 
national  welfare  and  security  did  not  depend  on  their 
own  exertions,  but  were  in  the  keeping  of  a  higher 
power,  —  might  well  have  marked  the  thirteenth  of 
December  with  a  white  stone  in  their  calendar ;  for 
that  day  was  signalised  by  two  events  which,  to  a  New 
Englander  of  four  generations  back,  must  have  pre- 
sented every  appearance  of  special  providences.  Then, 
for  the  first  time,  General  Howe  disclosed  to  those 
about  him  his  intention  of  suspending  further  military 
operations  until  the  spring  came.  He  distributed  the 
greater  part  of  his  army  into  winter  quarters  throughout 
the  northern  counties  of  New  Jersey ;  he  covered  his 
front  with  a  line  of  detachments  which,  during  the 
next  fortnight,  was  admiringly  described  by  military 
critics  as  a  strong  and  impenetrable  "chain  of  posts;" 
and  he  himself  withdrew  to  New  York  City,  taking 
Lord  CornwaUis  with  him.  Intelligent  Loyalists,  even 
such  as  were  not  professional  soldiers,  then  and  there- 
after were  unanimous  in  accounting  that  fatal  resolution 
as  the  death-blow  of  their  party.  American  Whigs,  — 
when  they  came  to  understand  the  full  consequences  of 
the  step  which  Howe  had  taken,  —  were  not  disposed 
censoriously  to  examine  his  motives  for  a  course  of 
action  which  was  so  exactly  to  their   own   mind ;   but 

^  Kdmund  Burke  to  Richard  Champion  ;   January  1777. 


64  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Tory  refugees,  in  the  bitterness  of  penury  and  exile, 
disseminated  the  story,  (which  to  them,  at  any  rate, 
was  no  legend,)  that  the  British  general  was  in  a  hurry 
to  exchange  the  hardships  of  the  open  field  for  a  life  of 
sloth  and  gross  self-indulgence  beneath  the  roof  of  an 
urban  mansion.^ 

Howe  might  love  ease  and  pleasure ;  but  he  was  no 
selfish  voluptuary,  and  he  liked  to  see  others  comfort- 
able and  happy  around  him.  The  return  of  the  Head- 
quarters Staff  to  New  York  was  followed  by  ten  days  of 
universal  jollity, — -the  harbingers,  as  everybody  antici- 
pated, of  a  cheerful  and  plenteous  winter.  All  the 
town  markets  were  regularly  and  largely  supplied,  and 
cantonments  in  the  provincial  districts  overflowed  with 
rural  luxuries.  Good  beef,  veal,  and  mutton  might  be 
bought  at  threepence  to  fourpence  a  pound ;  bread  was 
as  cheap  as  in  London ;  and  there  were  apples  and 
peaches  for  the  asking,  with  cabbages  and  potatoes 
in  abundance.  Our  officers  amused  themselves  with 
pastimes,  innocent,  questionable,  or  estimable.  Balls 
were  given ;  faro-tables  were  set  up ;  and  a  play  was 
rehearsed  at  the  theatre,  which  was  to  be  performed 
for  the  benefit  of  families  left  destitute  by  soldiers  who 
had  fallen  in  the  war.  Bright  expectations  centred 
themselves  round  the  banquets  which  were  in  prep- 
aration to  celebrate  Sir  William  Howe's  approaching 
investiture  as  Knight  Commander  of  the  Bath ;  for 
that  rank  had  been  conferred  upon  him  as  a  reward 
for  his  victory  on  Long  Island.  Cornwallis,  always 
very  indifferent  to  the  titles  and  honours  which  were 
conferred  upon  himself,  did  not  wish  to  spend  more 
evenings  than  he  could  help  in  wetting  his  Commander- 
in-Chief's  red  ribbon.  Since  apparently  no  fighting  was 
at  hand  for  some  months  to  come,  he  obtained  leave  to 
sail  for  England ;  not,  like  Burgoyne,  to  push  his  for- 
tunes, but  in  order  to  visit  his  children  and  his  wife. 
That  poor  lady  could  not  endure  the  separation  from 

^  Judge  Jones's  History  of  New  York  ;  Vol.  I.,  chapter  viii.,  pages  171 
and  176. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  65 

her  noble  and  kind  companion,  and  was  perpetually 
tortured  by  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  a  life  of  which 
her  husband  was  so  little  chary  in  battle.  Two  years 
afterwards  Lady  CornwalHs  died,  if  ever  woman  did,  of 
a  broken  heart.^ 

Washington  who,  according  to  his  unvaried  practice, 
had  "  a  number  of  small  parties  out  to  make  discoveries,"  ^ 
very  soon  perceived  that  the  stress  of  the  campaign  was 
relaxed,  and  that  he  might  count  upon  a  breathing-space 
which  would  enable  him  to  collect  his  means,  to  mature 
his  plans,  and  to  refurbish  his  energies.  He  felt  as  the 
captain  of  a  dismantled  vessel,  driven  by  the  tempest 
towards  a  lee-shore,  would  feel  if  the  wind  veered 
straight  round  when  he  was  within  a  few  score  fathoms 
of  the  rocks.  Nor  was  he  yet  at  the  end  of  his  mercies  ; 
for  the  thirteenth  of  December  had  another  gift  in  store 
for  him.  Lee  was  still  meandering,  at  his  own  pace, 
through  the  northern  townships  of  New  Jersey.  The 
record  of  his  march  stands  by  itself  in  the  annals  of 
modern  warfare.  After  receiving  the  order  to  move, 
he  remained  stationary  for  ten  days  at  White  Plains ; 
during  the  next  week  he  travelled  less  than  six  miles  a 
day ;  and  then  his  rate  of  progress  came  down  to  an 
average  of  three  miles  for  every  twenty-four  hours. 
Tradition  avers  that  General  Jomini,  the  famous  writer 
on  Strategy,  first  introduced   himself    to  the  notice  of 

1  Cornwallis  contrived  to  see  his  wife  in  England  during  the  earlier 
months  of  1778,  anfi  then  returned  to  America  with  Lord  Carlisle,  who 
was  bound  thither  as  a  Special  Commissioner,  and  who  thus  wrote  to 
George  Selw\-n  from  Portsmouth  :  "Poor  Lord  Cornwallis  is  going  to 
experience  something  like  what  I  have  felt;  for  he  has  brought  with  him 
his  wife  and  children,  and  we  embark  to-morrow  if  the  wind  serves.  My 
heart  bleeds  for  them." 

When  the  ship  weighed  anchor,  Lady  Cornwallis  returned  to  her  life 
of  solitude.  Grief  played  upon  her  health,  and  brought  on  the  illness 
which  killed  her.  Cornwallis  was  fetched  home  in  time  to  be  with  her  at 
the  last ;  and  she  begged  of  him  that  a  thorn  tree  should  be  planted  above 
the  vault  where  she  was  buried,  as  nearly  as  possible  over  her  heart,  and 
that  no  stone  should  be  engraved  to  her  memory.  Both  wishes  were 
carried  out.      Correspondence  0/  Marquis   CornwalHs ;  chapter  i. 

'^  Washington  to  the  Council  of  .Safety  of  Pennsylvania  ;  I  lead-quarters, 
Bucks  County,  December  15,  1776. 

VOL.  III.  F 


66  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Napoleon  by  naming  the  precise  date  when  the  Em- 
peror would  reach  a  certain  point  in  the  map  on  his 
way  to  Jena.  But  Jomini  himself,  even  if  he  had  Von 
Moltke  to  assist  him,  might  well  have  shrunk  from  the 
problem  of  calculating  the  moment  at  which  Charles 
Lee  would  ultimately  have  rejoined  Washington.  The 
solution  of  that  problem  can  never  be  known ;  for  an 
untoward  accident  abruptly  terminated  the  leisurely 
journey.  On  the  twelfth  of  December  Lee  left  his 
troops  at  Vealtown  with  General  Sullivan,  who  had 
shown  such  alacrity  in  hurrying  forward  those  reinforce- 
ments which  Schuyler  had  despatched  from  Albany,  and 
which  Lee  had  arrested  and  detained.  Lee  himself,  — 
probably  with  the  notion  that  his  absence  from  the  col- 
umn might  afford  an  excuse  for  an  another  day's  halt 
upon  the  road,  —  slept  that  night  in  a  tavern  at  Bask- 
ingridge,  under  the  protection  of  a  small  escort,  and 
separated  by  the  distance  of  more  than  a  league  from 
the  bulk  of  his  command.  There  he  lay  in  bed  till  eight 
o'clock  on  the  following  morning,  when  he  was  aroused 
for  an  interview  with  Major  Wilkinson,  aide-de-camp  of 
Horatio  Gates,  who  had  brought  him  a  message  from 
that  officer.  Lee  passed  two  hours  with  Wilkinson, 
vapouring  and  growling,  and  cavilling  at  the  short- 
comings of  all  his  fellow-generals.  He  was  in  low  spirits  ; 
for  he  had  recently  lost  his  three  best  horses ;  most 
assuredly  not  by  over-work.^  At  ten  he  breakfasted, 
and  then,  as  if  the  day  was  still  young,  he  sate  down  to 
compose  an  ornate  reply  to  Gates.  "The  ingenious 
manoeuvre,"  he  wrote,  "  of  Fort  Washington  has 
unhinged  the  goodly  fabric  we  had  been  building. 
There  never  was  so  damned  a  stroke.^  Entre  nous,  a 
certain  great  man  is  damnably  deficient.  ...     It  is  said 


1  General  Lee's  advertisement,  offering  a  reward  for  the  recovery  of 
his  horses,  is  given  in  the  American  Archives  for  December  1776.  They 
were  a  black,  a  bay,  and  a  sorrel,  —  none  of  them  over  fifteen  hands  high. 

-  Lee  had  told  Colonel  Cadwalader  that,  when  he  learned  the  fall  of  Fort 
Washington,  he  was  so  excited  that  he  tore  the  hair  out  of  his  head.  Lam- 
bert Cadwalader  to  Timothy  Pickering  ;    May  1822. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  6'/ 

the  Whigs  are  determined  to  set  fire  to  Philadelphia. 
If  they  strike  this  decisive  stroke,  the  day  will  be  our 
own ;  but,  unless  it  is  done,  all  chance  of  liberty  in  any 
part  of  the  globe  is  for  ever  vanished."  The  letter 
was  not  yet  folded  when  Wilkinson,  who  was  looking 
from  the  window,  cried  out,  "  Here  are  the  British 
cavalry." 

It  so  happened  that  Colonel  Harcourt  had  ridden 
forth  from  Lord  Cornwallis's  head-quarters  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Delaware,  in  order  to  ascertain  for 
himself  what  Lee  and  Sullivan  were  about.  The  colo- 
nel was  never  too  fine  a  gentleman  to  do  his  own  scout- 
ing ;  and  he  now  got  his  reward ;  for  a  Baskingridge 
Loyalist  brought  him  information  of  the  unique  chance 
which  awaited  him  at  the  tavern  on  the  cross-roads.^ 
Harcourt  was  attended  by  thirty  troopers  of  the  Six- 
teenth Light  Dragoons.  It  was  the  same  regiment  that 
had  followed  Lee  in  his  dashing  raid  across  the  Tagus 
on  the  fifth  of  October,  1762,  —  the  only  unequivocal 
day  of  honour  in  his  diversified  career.  The  party  was 
very  strongly  officered,  for  they  had  with  them  their 
Colonel,  and  one  of  their  Cornets  ;  while  Banastre  Tarle- 
ton,  — -  then  a  subaltern  in  the  First  Dragoon  Guards, 
and  afterwards  famous  as  the  cavalry-leader  whose 
deeds  of  valour  and  of  cruelty  alternately  illuminated 
and  darkened  the  later  history  of  the  war,  —  accom- 
panied them  as  a  volunteer.  When  Harcourt  and 
Tarleton  heard  the  news,  they  were  on  fire  at  the  pros- 
pect of  fun  and  glory.  The  young  fellows  turned  their 
horses'  heads  for  Baskingridge,  and  arrived  there  an 
hour  before  noon,  early  enough  to  find  Lee  still  in  his 
dressing-gown.  The  house  was  surrounded,  and  the 
glass  began  to  fly  as  bullets  rained  in  at  the  windows. 
The  assailants  were  so  skilfully  disposed,  and  made 
such  a  din  with  their  carbines,  that  they  produced  upon 
the  enemy's  nerves  an  effect  of  being  more  than  double 

'  Colonel  Ilarcourt's  presence  at  Baskingridge  is  very  clearly  explained 
in  Sir  William  1  lowe's  despatch  to  Lord  George  Germaine  of  the  twentieth 
of  December  1776. 

!•■  2 


68  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

their  actual  numbers. i  Lee's  escort  ran  away ;  and  he 
himself  had  no  choice  exxept  to  surrender.  His  be- 
haviour, according  to  rumour,  displayed  neither  man- 
liness nor  dignity  ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  be  taken  prisoner 
heroically.  Howe,  in  his  report  of  the  affair,  recom- 
mended Colonel  Harcourt  to  his  Majesty's  gracious 
attention  for  his  infinite  address  and  gallantry  ;  and  the 
compliment  was  just.  Within  four  minutes  after  the 
attack  began,  Lee,  —  in  the  garb  of  a  half-dressed  slip- 
shod civilian,  and  mounted  on  Major  Wilkinson's 
charger,  which  had  been  left  tethered  outside  the  tavern, 
—  was  careering  southward  amid  the  little  troop  of 
British  horsemen ;  and,  during  those  four  minutes,  the 
dragoons  had  contrived  to  let  off  more  than  a  hundred 
cartridges.  There  was  need  for  haste.  Harcourt  had 
near  thirty  miles  to  travel  along  causeways  much  less 
evenly  laid  than  the  coach  road  between  Nuneham  and 
Oxford ;  and  the  Whigs,  in  the  townships  through 
which  he  passed  on  his  way  to  Baskingridge,  had  risen 
in  arms  behind  him.  During  the  return  journey,  his 
Cornet  was  shot  dead  from  the  saddle  by  the  gun  of  a 
Jersey  farmer  ;  ^  but  Harcourt  allowed  nothing  to  divert 
or  to  delay  him  until  he  had  securely  lodged  his  man 
within  the  British  lines  at  Pennington. 

General  Lee's  capture  was  everywhere  regarded  as 
an  event  of  first-rate  magnitude,  and  excited  an  emotion 
by  no  means  confined  to  our  own  islands ;  for  in  several 
European  capitals  he  was  personally  and  familiarly 
known  to  military  men  for  whom  Washington  was  only 
a  name.  The  tidings  created  extraordinary  elation  in 
England,  and  more  particularly  throughout  those  coun- 
ties which  bordered  on  the  Thames  valley,  where  the 
Harcourt  interest  was  strong,  and  the  Colonel  himself 


1  Washington,  in  his  official  account  of  the  occurrence,  spoke  of  the  Eng- 
lish Light  Horsemen  as  seventy  strong. 

2  During  more  than  a  century  afterwards  local  tradition  pointed  to  a 
spot  by  the  roadside  where  this  young  officer  was  said  to  have  been  hastily 
buried.  In  1891  the  grave  was  opened,  and  regimental  buttons  of  the 
Sixteenth  Light  Dragoons  were  found  amid  the  mould. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  69 

had  always  been  a  special  favourite.^  Lee's  showy 
qualities,  and  his  dramatic  history,  had  caught  the 
imagination  of  the  writing  world  ;  and,  when  he  was 
announced  to  be  under  lock  and  key,  there  were  joy  and 
triumph  in  London  as  though  a  battle  had  been  won. 
The  metropolitan  newspapers,  —  in  a  phrase  which  to 
Lee's  own  taste  must  have  seemed  exceedingly  fine,  — 
congratulated  Sir  William  Howe  on  having  taken  the 
Palladium  of  America.  One  journal  related  how  the 
prudent  advice  of  our  distinguished  prisoner  had  saved 
the  Continental  army  from  being  cut  to  pieces  on  the 
Westchester  peninsula.  Another,  when  fortune  had  at 
length  smiled  upon  the  Americans,  discovered  that  it 
was  General  Lee  who  had  reconnoitred  the  Hessian 
position  at  Trenton  in  the  disguise  of  a  peasant,  and  had 
devised  the  plan  of  attack  which  an  ignorant  world 
attributed  to  Washington.  In  America  itself,  Charles 
Lee  had  already  been  detected  and  judged  by  a  dis- 
criminating few; 2  but  the  great  mass  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  still  believed  in  him  as  implicitly  as  ever. 
His  mishap,  coming  on  the  top  of  their  other  disasters, 
bewildered  and  disheartened  them  ;  and  they  insisted, 
with  an  importunity  which  the  governing  authorities 
were  compelled  to  heed,  that  as  early  as  possible,  and 
at  any  cost,  he  should  be  redeemed  from  captivity,  and 
placed  once  more  in  exalted  command.  Their  anxiety 
on  his  behalf  was  sharpened  by  a  report  that  he  was  to 
be  court-martialled  as  a  deserter  from  the  British  army, 
because  the  resignation  of  his  position  as  a  half-pay 
officer  had  not  yet  been  officially  accepted  by  the  War 

1  "This  is  to  give  notice  that  Thursday  night  will  be  held  as  a  day  of 
rejoicin  in  commemoration  of  the  takin  of  (general  Lee,  when  there  will 
be  a  sermint  preached,  and  other  public  demonstrations  of  joy  ;  after 
which  there  will  lie  a  nox  roasted  whole,  and  every  mark  of  festivity  and 
bell-ringing  imaginable,  with  a  ball  and  cock-tighting  at  night  in  the 
Assembly-room  at  the  Black  Lyone."  Notice  by  James  Qinch,  Parish 
Clerk  and  Cryer  of  Tring  in  Buckinghamshire  ;    February  13,  1777. 

2  "There  is  something  so  eccentric  in  the  man's  temper,  and  such  a 
vacancy  of  principle,  that  it  is  impossible  for  all  his  talents,  which  have 
been  much  enlarged  upon,  tn  support  a  reputation."  Ambrose  Serle  to 
Lord  Dartmouth  ;    .August  1776. 


70  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Office  in  London.  He  was  said  to  have  been  placed  in 
close  confinement,  and  deprived  of  all  materials  for 
writing;  which  in  his  case  would  most  certainly  have 
been  the  refinement  of  cruelty.  Whatever  might  be 
Washington's  inward  reflections,  they  were  draped  be- 
neath a  decent  veil  of  conventional,  and  apparently 
quite  sincere,  regret.  In  a  private  letter  to  his  brother 
he  mentioned  Lee's  incarceration  as  an  additional  mis- 
fortune for  the  public  cause,  —  the  more  vexatious  as 
it  was  by  the  General's  own  folly  and  imprudence,  and 
without  a  view  to  effect  any  good,  that  he  had  fallen 
into  hostile  hands. ^ 

Washington  before  long,  to  his  grievous  loss,  got 
Charles  Lee  back  once  again ;  but  he  was  quit  of  him 
for  the  time  being,  and  of  that  precious  time  not  a 
shred  was  wasted.  The  next  fortnight  was  a  season  of 
immense  activity  in  the  American  lines.  A  spark  of 
hope  soon  appeared  in  cheerful  minds;  and  in  more 
sombre  dispositions  there  was  a  fixed  intention  of  dying, 
if  death  must  be  faced,  elsewhere  than  on  the  gallows, 
or  amid  the  horrors  and  rigours  of  the  New  York  jails. 
The  Commander-in-Chief  now  at  last  enjoyed  an  assur- 
ance, ^  the  utmost  boon  which  a  strong  man  claims 
from  destiny,  ~  that,  however  bad  the  situation  might 
have  become,  it  henceforward  depended  upon  himself 
alone  to  make  the  best  of  it ;  for  Congress,  when  ad- 
journing to  Baltimore,  had  resolved  that  "  General 
Washington  be  possessed  of  full  power  to  order  and 
direct  all  things  relative  to  the  department  and  to  the 
operations  of  war."  That  access  of  authority  in  the 
right  quarter  was  welcomed  by  the  American  army. 
Washington,  in  his  relations  with  others,  had  always 
evinced  the  unselfishness  of  a  good  comrade,  and  the 
self-abnegation  of  a  true  leader ;  —  those  qualities  which 
cannot  fail  to  secure  the  willing  obedience  of  all  honest 
and  earnest  men.  "  I  knew,"  wrote  Sherman  to  Grant, 
"  that,  wherever  I  was,  if  I  got  into  a  tight  place  you 
would  help  me  out  of  it  alive."     That  was  a  compHment 

1  Washington  to  John  Augustine  Washington  ;   December  i8,  1776. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  7 1 

which  Washington  seldom,  or  never,  failed  to  deserve. 
Eight  or  nine  months  previously,  at  the  opening  of  a 
formidable  campaign  on  the  result  of  which  his  fame 
and  career  were  staked,  he  had  despatched  ten  regi- 
ments, of  his  very  best,  to  the  assistance  of  General 
Sullivan,  then  in  jeopardy  on  the  northern  frontier; 
and  now  his  own  turn  had  come  to  appeal  for  aid  from 
all  his  colleagues  who  were  not  so  immediately  and 
urgently  threatened  as  himself.  Sullivan  had  faults  ; 
but  his  warm  Irish  nature  contained  no  particle  of  dis- 
loyalty or  ingratitude.  On  learning  what  had  happened 
at  Baskingridge  tavern,  he  took  prompt  and  resolute 
hold  of  the  command  which  had  so  suddenly  fallen 
vacant.  Having  assembled  Lee's  division  upon  parade, 
he  rode  jauntily  along  the  front  of  the  lines  in  order  to 
show  the  troops  that  they  still  had  a  competent  leader 
to  direct  them  ;  and,  with  his  own  voice,  he  gave  them 
the  word  to  start  on  their  journey  to  the  place  where 
they  were  sorely  wanted.  He  made  a  sweeping  circuit 
to  the  westward,  which  took  him  well  outside  all  risk 
of  contact  with  the  British  outposts ;  but  he  marched 
four  times  as  quickly  as  the  measure  of  speed  with 
which  his  predecessor  had  of  late  been  contented.  On 
the  fifteenth  of  December  Sullivan  crossed  the  Dela- 
ware at  Easton,  a  point  forty  miles  above  Trenton ;  and 
on  the  twentieth,  in  a  heavy  snowstorm,  he  handed 
over  his  troops  to  the  Commander-in-Chief,  and  reported 
them  as  fit  and  keen  for  duty,  although  "  much  out  of 
sorts,  and  much  in  want  of  everything."  ^ 

A  few  days  after  Sullivan  had  passed  through  Easton, 


^  On  the  seventeenth  of  December  Doctor  Shippen  wrote  to  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  from  Bethlehem  in  Pennsylvania,  a  letter  which  is  preserved 
in  the  American  Archives.  "  I  have  nut  heard  of  any  clothes  and  old 
wine.  I  fear  the  varlets  have  them  as  secure  as  poor  General  Lee.  Oh  ! 
What  a  sneaking  way  of  being  kidnajjped  !  I  cannot  bear  to  think  of  it. 
1  saw  all  his  troops,  about  four  thousand,  this  morning,  marching  irom 
Easton  in  good  spirits,  and  much  pleased  with  their  general." 

David  How,  the  diarist  nf  P)unkcr's  Hill  and  Boston  siege,  was  in  I-ee's 
army  ;  and  his  humble  narrative  indicates  the  vastly  increased  energy 
which  Sullivan  infused  into  the  movements  of  that  force. 


72  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

he  was  followed  across  the  Delaware  by  four  other  bat- 
talions which  General  Schuyler  had  detached  from  the 
garrison  of  Ticonderoga  as  soon  as  Sir  Guy  Carleton's 
back  was  fairly  turned.  Anthony  Wayne,  sickening 
for  a  fight,  had  eagerly  volunteered  to  conduct  these 
reinforcements  in  person.  Schuyler,  however,  could 
not  spare  him  from  his  post ;  and  this  second  contin- 
gent of  the  Northern  army  was  brought  into  the  camp 
on  the  Delaware  by  Benedict  Arnold.  Washington,  be- 
fore November  ended,  had  directed  General  Mifflin  to 
visit  the  capital  of  Pennsylvania,  and  raise  what  force 
he  could  from  that  province.  It  was  an  admirable 
selection,  inasmuch  as  Mifflin  had  a  singular  gift  for 
arousing  enthusiasm,  and  the  sense  of  obligation,  in  the 
hearts  and  consciences  of  other  men.  He  was  very 
successful  with  the  city  militia,  who  turned  out  in  a 
most  spirited  manner,  and  rallied  round  the  drooping 
standard  of  their  country  fifteen  hundred  strong.^  Mif- 
flin received  that  reward  which  is  the  most  acceptable 
to  a  zealous  man  who  has  done  a  good  stroke  of  public 
work.  He  was  at  once  given  something  more  to  accom- 
plish ;  and  having  secured  so  large  a  muster  from  the 
town,  he  was  ordered  off  again,  then  and  there,  to  try 
his  hand  on  the  rural  districts.  Nor  was  Arnold  de- 
tained on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware ;  for  Washington 
was  too  good  an  economist  of  motive  power  in  war  to 
keep  at  his  own  elbow,  in  subordinate  employment,  a 
soldier  of  such  commanding  vigour  and  dauntless  initia- 
tive. The  coast  population  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  lived  under  the  perpetual  menace  of  Governor 
Tryon's  vindictive  forays.     Arnold  was  sent  there  with 

"  Dec.  15.  This  morning,  at  Day  Brake,  we  set  off,  and  at  10  o'Clock 
at  Night  we  got  to  PhiHps  Borough,  then  crossed  Dullerway  River  and 
went  to  East  Town  in  Pennsylvania. 

"  16.  We  have  ben  geting  our  Baggage  a  Cross,  and  geting  waggons 
for  the  March  this  day. 

"  17.  This  morning  we  set  out  And  marched  12  miles  to  Bethlem  and 
staid  in  the  woods  there." 

^  Washington  to  Governor  Trumbull  ;  Trenton  Falls,  December  12, 
1776. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  73 

a  roving  commission  to  protect  the  eastern  sea-board 
from  incendiarism  and  rapine  ;  and,  in  the  successful 
prosecution  of  that  service,  he  soon  had  two  horses  shot 
under  him,  and  only  saved  his  own  life  by  his  coolness 
and  dexterity  in  a  personal  encounter.^ 

Washington  had  no  occasion  to  withdraw  men  of 
ability  from  distant  quarters  and  important  duties ;  for 
his  cantonments  swarmed  with  excellent  officers.  He 
could  not  desire  more  alert  and  enterprising  generals 
than  Greene  and  Stirling,  or  braver  colonels  than  Stark 
of  New  Hampshire,  and  Haslet  of  Delaware.  Two 
special  departments  of  the  army  were  destined  to  exer- 
cise a  decisive  influence  on  the  events  of  the  next  few 
weeks ;  and  in  both  of  those  departments  Washington 
was  eminently  well  provided.  His  field  batteries  were 
in  charge  of  Colonel  Knox,  who  in  the  previous  winter 
had  brought  the  great  train  of  heavy  ordnance  from 
Lake  Champlain  to  the  American  trenches  outside  Bos- 
ton. Knox  was  chief  of  the  artillery  all  the  while  that 
hostilities  lasted  ;  and  his  practical  acquaintance  with 
the  use  of  cannon  in  siege-work,  and  in  battle,  greatly 
enhanced  his  efficiency  as  an  administrator.  The  per- 
sonal authority  which  he  exerted  over  his  own  branch 
of  the  service  was  henceforward  firmly  established  by 
the  skill  and  dash  with  which  his  guns  were  manoeuvred 
during  the  operations  now  impending.^  The  other  im- 
plement of  war  which  Washington  had  in  perfection 
may  be  described  as  his  pontoon-corps  ;  although  it  was 
designated  on  the  roll  of  the  American  army  as  the 
Fourteenth  Continental  Foot.       It  was  composed  of  the 

1  After  the  action  was  over,  some  thrifty  New  England  farmers  took 
the  skin  off  one  of  the  animals,  and  found  in  it  no  less  than  nine  bullet- 
holes.  Arnold  killed  with  his  pistol  a  soldier  who  offered  to  bayonet  him 
as  he  lay  entangled  in  his  stirrups  on  the  ground. 

'■^  Washington  described  Knox  as  a  very  valuable  officer,  of  great  mili- 
tary rcadini,',  sound  judgment,  and  clear  conceptions  ;  who,  combating 
almost  innumerable  difficulties,  had  placed  the  national  artillery  upon  a 
footing  that  did  him  honour.  Those  were  the  terms  in  which  the  Corn- 
man  ler-in-Chief  answered  a  proposal,  emanating  from  the  politicians,  to 
supersede  Knox  by  a  Frenchman.  Washington  to  the  I'resident  of  Con- 
gress, May  31,  1777;   to  Richard  Henry  Lee,  June  i,  1777. 


74  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

men  who,  during  the  blockade  of  Boston,  had  swept 
crops  and  cattle  off  the  islands  in  the  Bay  from  under 
the  guns  of  Admiral  Graves  and  his  squadron ;  and 
who,  on  the  night  of  the  thirteenth  of  August  1776, 
had  conveyed  the  American  army  safe  and  sound  across 
the  East  River  after  their  defeat  in  front  of  Brooklyn. 
They  had  been  recruited  from  that  seafaring  population 
of  Marblehead,  which  was  thrown  out  of  work  by  the 
Act  of  Parliament  excluding  the  New  England  colonies 
from  participation  in  the  Newfoundland  Fisheries.  The 
rank  and  file  were  mariners  all ;  clad  in  blue  round 
jackets,  and  in  those  loose  short  trousers  which,  (as  a 
student  of  Gillray's  caricatures  will  remember,)  formed 
the  distinguishing  dress  of  shipmen  at  a  time  when 
every  landsman  still  wore  breeches  and  long  stockings. 
They  carried  rifles ;  and  had  shown  themselves  good 
soldiers  in  a  shrewd  skirmish  on  Westchester  peninsula. 
The  regiment  had  been  raised  by  Colonel  John  Glover, 
who  before  the  Revolution  owned  a  number  of  vessels 
manned  by  the  seamen  whom  he  afterwards  led  to  war. 
Small  of  stature,  but  brisk  and  stout-hearted,  he  had 
now  been  promoted  to  the  charge  of  a  brigade.  He 
continued,  however,  to  keep  a  close  and  loving  eye  on 
his  sailors ;  and  he  was  well  supported  and  seconded  by 
his  regimental  officers,  who  at  this  period  of  the  cam- 
paign were  as  one  to  six  of  the  privates.  A  critic  from 
the  middle  colonies,  very  sparing  indeed  of  any  compli- 
ment to  New  Englanders,  admitted  that  Colonel  Glover's 
officers  had  mixed  with  the  world,  and  knew  how  to 
make  themselves  respected  and  obeyed.  The  men, 
(this  gentleman  said,)  were  deficient  in  polish,  but  af- 
forded a  notable  example  in  all  the  essentials  of  disci- 
pline.i  One  of  their  captains  was  John  Blunt,  a  New 
Hampshire  shipmaster,  who  had  often  taken  his  trading 
schooner  up  the  Delaware  to  the  head  of  the  tide  at 

1  Memoirs  by  Alexander  Graydon  of  Pennsylvania.  There  is  an  ac- 
count of  Glover's  regiment  in  William  Stryker's  Battles  of  Trenton  and 
Princeton.  The  numbers  and  composition  of  Washington's  army  are 
given   by  that   excellent  author  in  minute,  and  most  interesting,  detail. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  75 

Trenton,  and  who  now  was  making  himself  familiar 
with  the  higher  stretch  of  river  which  lay  between  that 
point  and  Coryel's  Ferry.^ 

Not  in  Glover's  regiment  only,  but  throughout  the 
Continental  army,  Captains  and  Lieutenants  were  in 
excessive  proportion  to  the  soldiers  whom  they  com- 
manded. Six  of  the  brigades  contained  between  them, 
present  and  fit  for  service,  four  thousand  men  and  five 
hundred  officers.  This  immense  multitude  of  commis- 
sioned people  included  some  bad  characters,  and  many 
who  could  show  few  military  attributes  except  their  title 
and  their  epaulettes ;  but  none  the  less  the  very  pick  of 
the  nation  was  there.  Great  numbers  of  respectable 
and  prosperous  colonists  had  abandoned  their  trades 
and  their  professions  in  order  to  see  the  Republic 
through  its  early  perils.  Men  of  this  class  had  stood 
proof  against  the  infection  of  despondency  and  timidity 
which,  when  the  star  of  the  Revolution  began  to  decline, 
had  thinned  the  Provincial  army.  Those  of  them  who 
were  not  invalided  to  their  homes,  or  prostrated  on  the 
mattresses  of  Philadelphian  hospitals,  had  remained 
steadfast  and  indefatigable  at  their  appointed  station  in 
Washington's  dwindling  ranks.  And  while  older  citi- 
zens, at  the  bidding  of  duty,  reluctantly  sacrificed  family 
life  and  profitable  avocations,  there  had  been  a  joyous 
exodus  from  school  and  college  of  all  that  was  most 
ambitious  and  keen-witted  in  America.  The  army  on 
the  Delaware  contained  not  a  few  striplings  of  excep- 
tional talents,  and  with  a  shining  future.  We  are  told 
that  the  New  York  company  of  artillery  "  was  a  model 
of  discipline  ;  its  captain  a  mere  boy,  with  small,  slender, 
and  delicate  frame,  who,  with  cocked  hat  pulled  down 
over  his  eyes,  and  apparently  lost  in  thought,  marched 
beside  his  cannon,  patting  it  every  now  and  then  as  if 
it  were  a  favourite  horse  or  pet  plaything."  This  was 
Alexander  Hamilton  ;  indubitably  the  most  brilliant,  and 

^  The  places  mentioned  in  this  chapter,  and  in  the  next,  may  all  be 
found  in  the  Map  of  New  Jersey,  and  of  New  York  and  its  Environs,  at 
the  end  of  the  volume. 


•J^  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

perhaps  the  most  tragic,  figure  in  all  the  historical  gal- 
lery of  American  statesmen.  After  the  peace  he  was 
foremost  among  the  political  architects  who  planned  and 
constructed  the  fabric  of  her  stable  and  stately  Consti- 
tution ;  and,  as  a  fitting  crown  to  his  military  career,  he 
was  invited  by  Washington,  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown, 
to  lead  an  assault  which  was  the  final  and  decisive  on- 
slaught of  the  entire  war.  In  December  1777  the  pre- 
cocity of  Hamilton's  genius  had  gone  beyond  the  stage 
of  mere  promise.  He  was  not  yet  of  age  ;  but  his  repu- 
tation as  an  eloquent,  and  still  more  as  a  thoughtful  and 
convincing,  speaker  had  been  already  made.  The  two 
pamphlets  which,  when  just  turned  eighteen,  he  had  put 
forth  in  reply  to  the  Westchester  Farmer,  were  ascribed 
at  the  time  to  more  than  one  public  man  of  high  mark 
and  recognised  authority,  and  are  still  read  with  admira- 
tion by  the  best  judges  of  polemical  literature.^ 

Another  distinguished  regimental  officer,  for  the 
present  attached  to  the  infantry,  was  a  cousin,  although 
no  very  near  one,  of  the  Commander-in-Chief.  Captain 
WiUiam  Washington  always  took  his  share  of  a  fight  on 
foot ;  but  Virginian  gentlemen  were  then  seen  at  their 
best  in  the  saddle.  Before  very  long  he  was  famous  as 
the  leader  of  cavalry  who  taught  American  troopers  to 
charge  home,  and  who,  by  an  almost  infallible  discern- 
ment in  timing  the  moment  for  an  onset,  gained  one 
crushing  victory,  and  saved  two  stubborn  battles  from 
degenerating  into  ruinous  defeats.  His  imperturbable 
valour,  and  remarkable  bodily  strength,  went,  (as  is  not 
unusual  in  such  natures,)  with  an  excess  of  diffidence 

1  Hamilton's  Full  Vindication  of  Con^7-ess,  and  his  Farmer  Refuted, 
were  attributed  by  some  to  John  Jay,  and  by  others  to  William  Livingston. 
"There  are  displayed  in  these  papers  a  power  of  reasoning  and  sarcasm,  a 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  government  and  of  the  English  Constitution, 
and  a  grasp  of  the  merits  of  the  whole  controversy,  that  would  have  done 
honor  to  any  man,  at  any  age.  .  .  .  They  show  great  maturity,  —  a  more 
remarkable  maturity  than  has  ever  been  exhibited  by  any  other  person,  at 
so  early  an  age,  in  the  same  department  of  thought."  This  passage, 
written  by  George  Ticknor  Curtis,  is  quoted,  with  concurrence,  by  Pro- 
fessor Tyler  in  his  Literary  History. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  77 

whenever  he  was  called  upon  to  face  the  less  familiar, 
and  to  him  far  more  redoubtable,  ordeals  of  civic  life. 
Picton,  the  hero  of  heroes, — who  for  forty-eight  hours 
concealed  what  was  almost  certainly  a  mortal  wound  in 
order  not  to  be  prevented  by  the  surgeons  from  leading 
his  division  at  Waterloo,  —  twice  excited  respectful  com- 
passion by  the  evident  distress  with  which  he  rose  to 
respond  when  he  was  thanked  in  his  place  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  And  so,  when  the  war  was  over,  and 
WilHam  Washington's  friends  desired  to  nominate  him 
for  the  Governorship  of  the  State,  he  gave  them  that 
which  he  pronounced  to  be  an  unsurmountable  reason 
for  declining  the  proffered  honour.  He  reminded  them 
how,  as  holder  of  such  an  office,  —  an  office,  moreover, 
in  which  no  less  an  orator  than  Patrick  Henry  had  been 
among  his  predecessors,  —  he  would  undoubtedly  be 
expected  to  speak  in  public.  "  In  that  case,"  he  said, 
"  I  know  that,  without  gaining  credit  in  your  estimation, 
the  consciousness  of  inferiority  would  humble  me  in  my 
own.     I  cannot  make  a  speech."^ 

The  junior  officer  in  William  Washington's  company 
was  a  lad  even  younger  than  Hamilton,  and  not  his 
equal,  (as  indeed  very  few  were,)  in  intellectual  endow- 
ments or  in  personal  charm.  And  yet,  if  in  the  course 
of  ages  both  their  memories  were  to  perish,  that  of  Lieu- 
tenant Monroe  would  in  all  likeHhood  be  the  last  for- 
gotten of  the  two ;  for  he  was  the  James  Monroe  who 
in  December  1823,  as  fifth  President  of  the  United 
States,  enunciated  the  policy  which  defeated  the  machi- 
nations of  the  Holy  Alliance,  and  which  deprived  Spain 
of  her  American  colonies.  The  famous  doctrine,  where- 
with his  surname  is  indissolubly  associated,  has  been 
frequently  revived  and  reasserted  with  marked  effects 
upon  the  history  of  the  world  ;  and  a  very  great  deal 
more  will  have  to  be  written  about  it  before  that  history 
attains  the  closing  chapter.  As  time  proceeds,  and  the 
giant  Republic  grows  increasingly  conscious  of  its 
strength,  fresh  occasions  will  arise,  or  be  made,  for  the 

1  (janJcn's  Anecdotes  of  the  American  Revolution  ;  Vul.  I.,  page  61. 


78  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

use,  or  misuse,  of  the  most  formidable  and  far-reaching 
of  all  diplomatic  weapons  ;  and  during  generations,  and 
even  centuries,  to  come,  the  name  of  Captain  Washing- 
ton's subaltern  in  the  Third  Virginian  Continental 
Infantry  may  still  be  a  word  of  disagreeable  import 
among  the  Chancelleries  of  Europe. 

General  Washington's  troops,  in  numbers  and  in 
equipment,  bore  very  Uttle  resemblance  to  the  army 
of  a  nation  which,  in  the  Hfetime  of  some  there  present, 
would  order  the  combined  autocrats  of  Eastern  and 
Central  Europe  to  forbear  from  meddling,  and  force 
them  to  recognize  the  Western  Hemisphere  as  an  invio- 
lable sanctuary  of  freedom  and  self-government.  Very 
few  indeed  of  his  regiments  were  as  much  as  two  hun- 
dred strong,  and  some  of  them  could  only  muster  from 
forty  to  ninety  privates.  The  Third  Virginian,  (to  take 
a  specimen  instance,)  had  a  hundred  and  sixty  enhsted 
men  around  the  colours ;  while  no  fewer  than  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  were  reported  as  sick,  or  on  extra  duty, 
or  on  furlough, — which  was  often  only  another  word 
for  absence  without  leave.  Regulars  and  militia  together, 
it  is  probable  that  about  eight  thousand  Americans  stood 
in  arms  over  a  front  of  thirty  miles  along  the  Pennsyl- 
vanian  shore  of  the  Delaware. ^  It  was  a  force  which  in 
miUtary  parlance  might  have  been  stated  at  six  thousand 
five  hundred  bayonets,  were  it  not  that  one  soldier  out 
of  every  three  was  still  unprovided  with  that  very  essen- 
tial weapon.  The  Philadelphia  Associators,  fresh  from 
homes  close  at  hand  and  stocked  with  comforts,  were 
in  good  condition  for  a  winter  campaign ;  but  it  was 
less  well  with  the  Continental  regulars  who  had  been 

1  This  is  the  calculation  of  William  S.  Stryker,  himself  a  professional 
soldier,  and  a  skilled  examiner  of  records.  On  the  twenty-second  of 
December,  1776,  a  "Return  of  the  Forces  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware,  under  the  command  of  His  Excellency  George  Washington  Esq., 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Forces  of  the  United  States  of  America," 
gives  4704  Rank  and  File  present  for  duty.  But  some  of  the  regiments 
from  the  Northern  army,  the  large  body  of  Philadelphia  militia,  and 
apparently  a  few  other  smaller  contingents,  were  not  included  in  the 
Return. 


THE   REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  79 

marching  and  fighting  ever  since  the  middle  of  August. 
Many  among  them  were  barefoot ;  and  Washington  was 
reduced  to  send  round  the  Pennsylvania  villages  to  beg 
or  buy  old  clothes  and  blankets  for  his  freezing  soldiers. 
But  at  any  rate  they  zvcre  soldiers,  —  true  metal  that  had 
been  tried  in  the  fire ;  from  whose  ranks  the  cowards 
and  sluggards  had  all  deserted,  while  the  feeble  in  body 
had  been  eHminated  by  the  searching  hardships  of  those 
cruel  months.  They  were  clad  like  scarecrows :  but 
each  of  them  carried  a  gun  whose  tricks  he  knew,  with 
the  barrel  as  clean  as  oiled  rag  could  make  it ;  and  in 
that  camp  rags  were  plenty.  They  now  were  somewhat 
rested ;  for  they  slept  sound  under  a  tight  roof,  behind  a 
broad  river ;  and,  for  the  first  time  during  many  a  long 
day,  they  had  enough  to  eat.  Robert  Morris,  who  was 
working  with  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  ten  fair-weather 
administrators,  confessed  that  the  transport  and  com- 
missariat had  been  seriously  deranged  ever  since  Con- 
gress had  retired  to  Baltimore.^  But  the  hamlet  of 
Newtown,  which  contained  Washington's  head-quarters, 
lay  only  a  few  leagues  distant  from  Philadelphia ;  and 
the  townsmen  of  that  hospitable  capital,  on  both  sides 
of  politics,  loved  to  regale  those  who  agreed  with  them 
in  opinions.  Provision-waggons  came  and  went  through 
the  mud  and  snow  with  a  regularity  which  showed  that 
Benjamin  Franklin,  when  he  sailed  for  France,  had  not 
taken  all  the  resource  and  energy  of  his  adopted  city 
with  him.  The  veterans  of  Haerlem  and  of  White 
Plains  had  never  lost  their  courage;  and  now  they  got 
back  their  buoyancy.  They  were  tired  of  being  told  that 
they  had  practised  the  back-step  long  enough.^  Their 
fancy  was  not  captivated  by  the  prospect  of  recom- 
mencing a  retreat  over  vile  log-roads,  far  away  from 
any   chance   of   good    victuals ;    and   they   were   more 

^  Robert  Morris  to  Colonel  Cadwalader;   American  Archives. 

2  "  Where  are  your  good  ladies  ?  My  love  and  best  compliments  to 
them,  and  desire  that  they  will  take  care  of  themselves,  lest  our  retrograde 
soldiers  should  run  them  down.  I  wish  you  would  introduce  a  new  step 
into  your  army.  I  am  sure  they  are  perfect  in  the  back-step  by  this 
time."     William  Sliippen  to  Richard  Henry  Lee  ;    December  1776. 


8o  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

inclined  to  push  forward  across  the  Delaware  before 
the  Hessians  had  killed  all  the  turkeys,  and  burned 
up  all  the  dry  billets  of  wood,  in  the  province  of  New 
Jersey. 

These  men  entertained  very  definite  notions  about 
the  cause  which  had  brought  them  from  their  ploughs, 
from  their  dairies,  and  from  the  counters  of  their  stores. 
They  had  learned  to  read  at  school ;  and  they  retained 
the   habit   in   after  Ufe,   instead  of  breaking  off   their 
education  at  that  precise  point  of  childhood  when  the 
intellect  unfolds  itself  to  the  appreciation  of  the  deUght 
and  instruction  which  books  afford.     "  In  many  towns," 
(we  are  told,)   "and  in    every  city,   they  have   public 
libraries.     Not  a  tradesman  but  will  find  time  to  read. 
He  is  amused  with  voyages  and  travels,  and  becomes 
acquainted  with  the  geography,  customs,  and  commerce 
of  other  countries.     He  reads  political  disquisitions,  and 
learns  the  outlines  of  his  rights  as  a  man  and  a  citizen."  ^ 
Nor  was  that  the  case  with  townsmen  only ;  for  already 
good  books  were  treasured,   and   slashing  newspapers 
eagerly  sought,  by  farmers  and  rural   mechanics,  who 
in  the  long  Northern  winter  had  more  time  for  study 
and  reflection  than  the  people  who  lived  in  the  streets 
of  a  city.     Leisure,  indeed,  was  not  abundant  in  Wash- 
ington's army  on  the  Delaware ;  but  the  minds  of  his 
soldiers  were  profoundly  stirred,   and  the  full   signifi- 
cance   of    national    politics   was    brought    before   their 
eyes  in  a  very  visible  and  concrete  shape.     Nothing 
ever  arouses  so  lively  an  interest  in  hterary  productions 
as  personal  intercourse  with  those  who  create   them. 
The  writers  who  had  most  successfully  evoked  a  martial 
spirit  in  America  did  not  lie  open  to  the  taunt  which, 
since  wars  first  began,  has  been  levelled  against  those 
who   instigate  others  to  fight,  but  who  will  not  fight 
themselves  ;  —  a  taunt  which  the  ancients  embodied  in 
the  fable  of  the  trumpeter  who  begged  for  quarter  on 
the  plea  that  he  never  had  killed  anyone  with  his  own 

1  "  Letter  written  by  a  foreigner  on  his  Travels  ;  "  by  Francis  Hopkin- 
son.     American  Archives  for  December  1776. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  8 1 

sword.  During  the  earlier  operations  in  the  campaign 
the  author  of  the  "  Answer  to  a  Westchester  Farmer  " 
might  have  been  seen  loading  and  pointing  in  the  thick 
of  the  fire,  or  trudging  contentedly  at  the  head  of  his 
battery  while  his  charger  helped  to  drag  the  cannon  ; 
and  any  Patriot  in  uniform,  when  he  had  done  his  turn 
of  sentry,  and  felt  inclined  for  some  conversation  on 
public  affairs,  might  exchange  ideas  with  a  still  more 
celebrated  pamphleteer,  who  occupied  a  humbler  military 
station  than  Alexander  Hamilton  in  that  exceptionally 
constituted  army. 

Thomas  Paine,  in  the  very  flush  of  his  influence  and 
reputation,  had  shouldered  a  knapsack,  and  joined  the 
Flying  Camp  as  a  Pennsylvania  militiaman.  General 
Greene  made  him  one  of  his  aides-de-camp ;  but  an 
appointment  on  that  staff,  during  those  weeks,  carried 
with  it  very  little  either  of  privilege  or  luxury.  In  the 
flight  from  Fort  Lee  Paine  lost  his  baggage  and  his 
private  papers ;  ^  but  he  had  kept,  or  borrowed,  a  pen. 
He  began  to  write  at  Newark,  the  first  stage  in  the 
calamitous  retreat ;  and  he  worked  all  night  at  every 
halting-place  until  his  new  pamphlet  was  completed.  It 
was  published  in  Philadelphia  on  the  nineteenth  of  De- 
cember, under  the  title  of  "  The  Crisis,"  and  at  once  flew 
like  wildfire  through  all  towns  and  villages  of  the  Con- 
federacy. In  Europe  the  piece  attracted  less  attention 
than  had  been  paid  to  its  predecessor ;  for,  whereas 
"Common  Sense"  had  been  a  reasoned  exposition  of 
state  policy,  "The  Crisis"  was  an  impassioned  appeal 
to  arms.  That  circumstance,  however,  endowed  Paine's 
glowing  rhetoric  with  a  special  value  in  the  estimation 
of  Americans.  To  their  mind's  eye  the  little  work  was 
adorned  by  an  imaginary  frontispiece  of  a  soldier  writ- 
ing by  the  watch-fire's  light,  with  his  comrades  slumber- 

^  A  letter  written  from  the  British  army  relates  that  on  this  occasion 
"the  rebels  fled  like  scared  rabbits,  leaving  some  poor  pork,  a  few  greasy 
proclamations,  and  S(jme  (jf  that  scoundrel '  Common  Sense  '  man's  letters  ; 
which  we  can  read  at  our  leisure,  now  that  we  have  got  one  of  *  the 
impregnable  redoubts'  of  Mr.  Washington's  to  quarter  in." 

VOL.  in.  G 


82  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

ing  round  him ;  and  it  was  among  those  comrades  that 
the  author  found  his  warmest  admirers  and  his  most 
convinced  disciples.  The  privates  were  called  together 
in  groups  to  hear  "  The  Crisis "  read ;  and  it  would 
have  borne  the  test  of  reading  aloud  even  before  a 
more  exacting  audience.  "  These  are  the  times  that 
try  men's  souls.  The  summer  soldier  and  the  sunshine 
patriot  will,  in  this  crisis,  shrink  from  the  service  of  his 
country ;  but  he,  that  stands  it  now,  deserves  the  love 
and  thanks  of  man  and  woman."  ^ 

Such  were  the  first  words  of  that  thrilling  exhorta- 
tion ;  and  what  followed  was  of  a  piece  with  the  open- 
ing sentences.  Americans  in  the  army  were  especially 
pleased  by  the  parallel  drawn  between  their  commander 
and  the  last  King  of  England  who  had  been  a  famous 
warrior.  William  the  Third,  (it  was  said,)  never  ap- 
peared to  full  advantage  but  in  difficulty  and  danger. 
"  The  character  fits  General  Washington.  There  is  a 
natural  firmness  in  some  minds  which  cannot  be  un- 
locked by  trifles.  I  reckon  it  among  public  blessings 
that  God  hath  blessed  him  with  uninterrupted  health, 
and  given  him  a  mind  that  can  flourish  upon  care."  If 
to  applaud  that  sentiment  was  flattery  on  the  part  of 
Washington's  soldiers,  it  was  none  the  less  a  tribute 
which  honoured  those  who  paid  it,  and  proved  that  they 
had  not  degenerated  from  their  forefathers.  The 
nation  from  which  they  issued,  —  of  which,  only  six 
months  before,  they  formed  a  part,  —  in  peril  and 
disaster  is  slow  to  blame  those  of  its  servants  who  have 
honestly  and  faithfully  done  their  best  at  home  and  in 
the  field  ;  and  no  other  trait  in  the  British  character 
inspires  foreigners  with  more  genuine  respect  and 
admiration,  not  unmixed  with  envy.  Washington  de- 
served the  confidence  of  his  supporters ;  for  he  set  an 
example  of  the  manner  in  which  men  should  think  and 
act  when  their  country  is  in  grave  peril.  While  labour- 
ing with  all  his  powers  to  recapture  success,  he  steadily 

1  Moncure  Conway's  Life  of  Thomas  Paine ;  Vol.  I.,  chapter  vii 
Tyler's  Literary  History ;  chapter  xxiv.,  sections  I  and  2. 


THE  REVOLUTION  AT  BAY  ^^ 

trained  his  mind  to  contemplate  the  very  worst  that 
could  possibly  befall.  Asked  what  he  would  do  if 
Philadelphia  were  taken,  he  is  reported  to  have  answered 
that  he  would  retreat  beyond  the  Susquehanna  River, 
and  thence,  if  necessary,  into  the  Alleghany  Mountains.^ 
He  had  penetrated  the  inward  meaning  of  the  secret 
which,  in  the  last  extremity  of  fortune,  sustains  the 
brave,  "  who  resign  themselves  to  everything  in  thought, 
but  in  action  resign  themselves  never."  ^ 

^  The  Life  of  Washington  by  Jared  Sparks  ;  chapter  ix. 
2  "  II  faut  par  la  pensee  se  resigner  k  tout,  et  dans  Paction  ne  se 
rcsigner  jamais." 


as 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

RALL  AND  VON  DONOP.   TRENTON.   PRINCETON 

Before  Washington  retired  into  the  forests  which  lay 
west  of  the  Susquehanna  he  intended  to  see  whether 
something  might  not  yet  be  done  on  the  east  of  the 
Delaware.  That  region  afforded  a  possible  and,  (to  his 
judgement,)  a  promising  field  of  action  now  that  the 
British  general  had  withdrawn  his  head-quarters  to 
New  York,  and  disposed  the  bulk  of  his  troops  in  can- 
tonments over  the  five  northern  counties  of  New  Jersey. 
The  situation  was  fairly  enough  described  in  a  letter  by 
a  Virginian  colonel,  who  wrote  that  in  December  1776 
General  Howe  held  a  mortgage  on  the  American  army, 
but  had  decided  not  to  foreclose.  Years  afterwards, 
when  both  the  immediate  and  the  secondary  conse- 
quences of  his  untoward  decision  were  patent  to  the 
world.  Sir  William  Howe  discoursed  to  the  House  of 
Commons  about  the  operations  of  that  winter  at  con- 
siderable length,  and  with  apparent  frankness.  He 
owned  that  the  left  wing  of  his  cantonments  in  New 
Jersey  had  been  dangerously  extended  towards  the 
southward.  He  defended  himself,  however,  on  the 
score  of  his  desire  to  protect  a  district  containing  many 
inhabitants,  who  had  committed  themselves  to  the 
Royal  cause  on  the  faith  of  his  own  express  invitation ; 
and  the  assertion  of  this  honourable  motive  was  neither 
an  excuse  nor  an  after-thought.^     He  was  blamed,  (so 

1  On  the  twentieth  of  December,  1776,  —  nearly  a  week  before  Trenton, 
—  Howe  wrote  thus  to  Lord  George  Germaine.  "The  chain,  I  own,  is 
rather  too  extensive  ;  but  I  was  induced  to  occupy  Burlington,  to  cover  the 
county  of  Monmouth  in  which  there  are  many  loyal  inhabitants  ;  and, 
trusting  to  the  general  submission  of  the  country  to  the  Southward  of  this 
chain,  and  to  the  strength  of  the  corps  placed  in  the  advanced  posts,  I 
conclude  the  troops  will  be  in  perfect  security." 

84 


RALL  AND    VON  DO  NOP  85 

he  acknowledged,)  for  having  entrusted  the  post  of 
danger  to  other  than  British  troops  ;  but  he  pleaded 
that  our  German  auxiliaries  had  all  along  been  stationed 
on  the  left  of  his  line,  and  that  to  shift  them  from  that 
position  would  have  been  an  imputation  upon  their 
courage  and  discipline  which  up  to  that  time  they  had 
not  deserved.  During  the  Seven  Years'  War,  (so  he 
reminded  Parliament,  and  few  had  a  better  right  to 
speak  about  that  war  than  William  Howe,)  the  Hessians 
had  been  reputed  to  be  as  good  soldiers  as  any  in 
Prince  Ferdinand's  army.  But,  while  profuse  in  his 
self -justification  on  all  minor  and  collateral  charges, 
Howe  put  the  main  question  aside  in  silence.  He  did 
not  explain  why  he  had  checked  the  rush  of  his  victori- 
ous campaign ;  had  deliberately  surrendered  the  power 
of  bringing  on  a  combat  at  his  own  time  and  place  ; 
and,  by  breaking  up  his  force  into  isolated  and  station- 
ary fragments,  had  handed  over  the  advantage  of  the 
offensive  to  Washington. 

The  six  brigades  of  Royal  troops  quartered  in  the 
Jerseys  were  put  in  charge  of  Major  General  Grant, 
who  located  himself  at  New  Brunswick  on  the  Raritan 
river,  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  centre  of  his  com- 
mand. The  shore  of  the  Delaware,  facing  the  whole 
extent  of  the  position  where  Washington's  army  lay, 
was  occupied  by  a  Hessian  division  under  the  orders  of 
Colonel  Von  Donop.  He  was  an  exceedingly  valiant 
officer  who,  within  a  year  afterwards,  died  very  nobly 
for  a  cause  which  in  his  own  view  was  not  worthy  of 
so  great  a  sacrifice.  Von  Donop,  with  the  insight  of 
a  genuine  soldier,  recognised  that  both  opponents  must 
have  had  their  say  in  the  matter  before  a  campaign 
could  be  declared  closed  ;  and  he  found  no  reason  to 
believe  that  the  Americans  were  a  party  to  the  bargain. 
He  foresaw  that  all  his  regiments,  acting  together,  were 
none  too  many  to  ensure  their  own  safety  ;  and  he 
urged  that  the  entire  division  should  be  massed,  and 
kept  on  the  alert,  in  a  position  suited  for  defence,  and 
not  very  near  the  enemy.     The  town   of  Trenton   he 


86  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

regarded  as  too  exposed  for  security  ;  and  any  body 
of  troops,  which  might  be  quartered  there,  was  in  his 
view  a  forlorn  hope.  But  Colonel  Rail,  —  as  the  reward 
of  his  undoubted  services  at  White  Plains,  in  front  of 
Brooklyn,  and  particularly  at  Fort  Washington,  — 
claimed  the  command  of  a  brigade,  with  head-quarters 
of  his  own.  Howe  let  himself  be  talked  over,  and  Rail 
was  placed  at  Trenton  with  three  fine  regiments  of 
Hessian  infantry.  The  officers  of  his  corps  for  the 
most  part  regarded  their  adversaries  with  the  disdain 
of  professional  soldiers  for  irregular  levies,  and  of  petty 
aristocrats  for  hard-working,  self-supporting  citizens. 
German  letters  and  diaries,  during  this  period  of  the 
war,  were  impregnated  by  ideas  then  potent  in  Europe, 
but  which  never  had,  —  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  never 
will  have,  —  any  vogue  whatever  in  America.  Some 
very  curious  observations,  made  by  these  gentlemen 
after  Putnam's  defeat  on  Long  Island,  have  been  pre- 
served for  the  instruction  of  posterity.  Among  the 
prisoners,  (they  wrote,)  were  many  so-called  colonels 
and  lieutenant-colonels,  who  in  reality  were  nothing 
but  tradesmen  and  mechanics,  tailors,  shoemakers,  and 
barbers  ;  and  some  of  them  had  been  well  knocked  about 
by  the  German  grenadiers,  who  would  by  no  means 
consent  to  treat  such  people  with  the  tenderness  due  to 
commissioned  officers.  General  Putnam  was  a  butcher 
by  profession  ;  much  such  another  as  butcher  Fischer 
at  Rinteln  in  North  Hesse.  Their  artillery  was  miser- 
able, mostly  of  iron,  and  mounted  on  ship-carriages. 
As  for  the  privates,  these  wretched  creatures  merited 
pity  rather  than  fear.  No  regiment  was  properly  uni- 
formed. Every  man  had  a  common  gun,  such  as  the 
citizens  of  Cassel  marched  out  with  at  Whitsuntide, 
which  it  took  him  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  load  ;  and  he 
would  always  be  glad  to  surrender  his  fire-arms,  and 
himself  too,  if  only  he  were  not  afraid  of  being  hanged 
for  a  rebel.^ 

iMany  extracts  to  this  effect   from  German  military  publications  are 
given  in  Mr.  Lowell's  book  on  the  Hessians. 


RALL  AND    VON  DON  OP  8/ 

Insolence  and  over-confidence  were  not  discouraged 
by  the  Brigadier  in  command,  who  was  a  brave,  proud, 
and  stupid  man.  Imbued  with  the  densest  prejudices 
incidental  either  to  his  class  or  to  his  calling,  he  neg- 
lected the  most  ordinary  precautions  against  a  foe 
whose  defects  he  ridiculed,  and  to  whose  very  remark- 
able military  qualities,  which  were  not  exactly  those  of 
the  Potsdam  guard-parade,  he  was  wilfully  and  incu- 
rably blind.  Colonel  Rail's  present  circumstances  by 
no  means  justified  his  self-complacency  ;  for  the  position 
which  his  force  occupied  was  extremely  hazardous. 
Some  of  his  junior  officers  displayed  a  zeal,  and  an 
interest  in  the  realities  of  soldiering,  which  put  the  in- 
dolence and  recklessness  of  their  chief  to  shame ;  for 
no  fewer  than  three  Hessian  lieutenants  have  left  each 
of  them  a  plan  of  Trenton  which  would  do  credit  to  any 
modern  Staff  College.  The  place  was  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  of  a  navigable  river,  of  which  the 
Americans  had  the  undisputed  command  ;  but  Colonel 
Rail's  most  serious  danger  was  in  the  opposite  quarter. 
Several  high  roads,  leading  from  the  interior  of  the 
province  and  from  the  crossing-places  further  up  the 
stream,  converged  upon  a  spot  at  the  northern  entrance 
of  Trenton  where  a  single  battery  of  hostile  cannon 
could  sweep,  from  end  to  end,  the  two  broad  straight 
streets  which  constituted  the  village.  That  spot,  more- 
over, was  to  rear  of  the  Hessians,  planted  fair  and 
square  across  their  communications  ;  and,  if  it  was 
seized  and  maintained  by  a  superior  American  force, 
nothing  could  save  their  brigade  from  a  total  and  irre- 
trievable overthrow.^  The  more  intelligent  German 
officers  felt  relief  and  satisfaction  when  Von  Donop 
paid  a  visit  to  Trenton  in  order  to  examine  the  ground 
with  his  own  eyes.  He  directed  Colonel  Rail  to  raise 
a  small  fortification  at  the  Ferry,  and,  as  a  matter  of 
prime  necessity,  to  erect  a  redoubt,  with  flanking  angles 

^  The  scale  of  the  map  at  the  cnrl  of  this  volume  has  l)ccn  calculated 
to  show  the  battle-lields  of  Trenton,  and  of  l>ong  Island,  sufficiently  for 
the  purposes  of  the  reader. 


88  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

for  cannon,  at  the  meeting  of  the  roads  to  the  north  of 
the  village.  Rail  made  a  show  of  acquiescence,  and 
ordered  faggots  to  be  prepared  for  the  construction  of  a 
battery;  but,  after  Von  Donop's  departure,  he  stayed 
his  hand,  and  his  six  field-pieces,  instead  of  being 
mounted  in  embrasures  where  they  might  protect  the 
approaches,  were  all  parked  near  the  middle  of  the 
town  in  a  graveyard  at  the  back  of  the  English 
Church. 

Rail's  three  regiments  were  distributed  among  the 
public  buildings  and  places  of  worship,  or  in  the  private 
dwellings  of  King's  Street  and  Queen's  Street  in  the 
proportion  of  a  company  to  every  five  or  six  houses. 
The  men,  though  snugly  lodged,  were  allowed  very 
little  time  to  themselves.  A  capable  officer.  Lieutenant 
Andreas  Wiederhold,  has  recounted  the  proceedings  of 
that  fortnight  at  Trenton  in  terms  which  indicate  a  deep 
feeling  of  shame  and  resentment.^  The  soldiers,  he 
wrote,  were  harassed  with  watches,  detachments,  and 
pickets  without  purpose  and  without  end.  The  cannon 
were  drawn  forth  every  day,  and  paraded  about  the 
town  seemingly  only  to  make  a  stir  and  uproar. 
Whether  his  men  kept  their  muskets  clean  and  bright, 
and  their  ammunition  in  good  order,  was  of  little  mo- 
ment to  Colonel  Rail ;  but  of  the  regimental  bandsmen 
he  never  could  either  see  or  hear  enough.  The  officer 
on  guard  for  the  day  must  march  round  and  round  the 
churchyard  in  front  of  the  Commandant's  windows, 
with  his  men  and  musicians  looking  for  all  the  world 
like  a  Roman  Catholic  procession,  •'  and  wanting  only 
the  cross,  the  banner,  and  the  chanting  choristers,  at 
their  head."  Rail  amused  himself  far  into  the  night, 
and  slept  late  of  a  morning.  "When  we  came  from 
parade,"  said  Wiederhold,  "at  ten  o'clock  to  his  quar- 
ters, we  had  many  times  to  wait  half  an  hour  because 
he  had  not  finished  his  usual  bath."  At  length,  em- 
boldened  by   the  arrival   of    a   renewed  and    pressing 

1  Wiederhold  died  in  Cassel  in  1803,  where  he  was  Inspector  of  the 
Arsenal. 


RALL  AND    VON  DONOP  89 

message  from  Von  Donop,  some  of  Rail's  subordinates, 
both  young  and  old,  implored  him  to  commence  in- 
trenching without  delay ;  but  they  got  nothing  from 
him  except  some  clumsy  banter.  Major  Von  Dechow, 
who  commanded  the  Knyphausen  regiment,  was  an 
old  officer  of  Frederic  the  Great.  Though  severely 
wounded  at  Fort  Washington,  he  had  dragged  himself 
back  to  take  a  share  with  his  comrades  in  the  perils 
which  he  foresaw  to  be  impending.  His  earnest  but 
respectful  expostulations  were  encountered,  on  the  part 
of  Colonel  Rail,  with  a  bad  imitation  of  those  epigrams 
that  were  frequent  in  the  mouth  of  the  great  captain 
under  whom  Von  Dechow  had  formerly  served.^  A 
superior  officer's  satire,  however  pointless,  does  not 
admit  of  retort;  and  silence  was  imposed  upon  proud 
and  gallant  men  by  the  implication  that  they  were 
afraid  of  a  parcel  of  cowardly  rebels,  whom  a  bayonet- 
charge  over  open  ground  would  at  once  send  to  the 
right-about.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Scheffer,  of  the  Von 
Lossberg  regiment,  was  actually  worried  into  a  fit  of  ill- 
ness by  the  folly  that  he  was  compelled  to  witness,  and 
by  the  prospect  of  a  calamity  which  hourly  grew  more 
definite  and  inevitable. 

The  river  in  front  of  the  Hessian  position  was  hostile 
water.  At  the  cardinal  moment  of  the  war  a  large 
portion  of  our  naval,  as  well  as  of  our  military,  strength 
had  been  diverted  from  that  central  and  vital  enterprise 
on  which  the  two  combined  services  had  hitherto  been 
engaged,  and  sent  on  a  distant  and  subsidiary  expedition 
to  Rhode  Island.  The  full  unwisdom  of  that  policy 
now  became  apparent.  There  were  British  schooners 
and  gunboats  lying  superfluous  and  useless  in  Narra- 
gansett  Bay  which  ought  to  have  been  employed,  on 
very  active  service  indeed,  between  the  right  and  left 
banks  of  the  Delaware.     Lord  Howe,  with  his  brother's 

'  "  Let  them  come,"  said  Rail.  "We  want  no  trenches.  We  will  go 
at  th(.m  with  the  bayonet."  "  Colonel,"  answered  Von  Dechow,  "  an 
intrenchment  costs  nothing.  If  it  does  not  help,  it  can  do  no  harm," 
And  then  he  held  his  peace. 


90  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

army  to  help  him  on  land,  might  easily  ere  this  have 
broken  up  the  chevaux-de-frise  which  guarded  the 
course  of  the  stream  at  a  point  forty  miles  below 
Trenton.  Much  harder  tasks  have  not  seldom  proved 
to  be  within  the  competence  of  the  Royal  navy ;  and, 
when  once  our  smaller  vessels  had  penetrated  above  the 
obstructions  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Philadelphia,  the 
river  would  have  been  our  own.  English  lieutenants  and 
senior  midshipmen,  —  the  like  of  Edward  Pellew,  and 
the  other  young  fellows  who  had  handled  the  sloops 
and  bomb-ketches  under  fire  at  Valcour  Island,  —  would 
very  soon  have  sunk  or  taken  all  the  craft  that  floated 
on  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Delaware,  with  decisive 
effect  on  the  result  of  the  campaign.  It  might  indeed 
be  objected  that  the  current  of  a  river  only  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  wide  was  a  dangerous  cruising-ground,  as 
long  as  one  of  the  shores  continued  to  be  in  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  enemy;  but  a  practical  refutation  of  that 
argument  was  afforded  by  an  American  sailor.  If  the 
western  bank  of  the  Delaware  remained  in  the  power 
of  General  Washington,  the  eastern  bank  was  strongly 
held  by  the  Royal  forces.  And  yet  Commodore  Sey- 
mour, of  the  Continental  navy,  ranged  freely  up  and 
down  with  his  row-galleys  and  gondolas;  landed  wher- 
ever he  chose;  searched  suspected  houses;  made  pris- 
oners of  formidable  Tory  partisans ;  and  expelled  the 
German  outposts  from  every  ferry,  quay,  farm,  and 
village  that  was  situated  within  cannon-range  of  his 
decks.  ^ 

Nothing  British  or  Loyalist  could  slip  across  to 
Pennsylvania  except  by  stealth,  and  at  imminent  risk 
of  death  or  captivity.      On  the  other  hand  parties  of 

^  The  Loyalists  of  Burlington,  through  the  mouth  of  their  Tory  mayor, 
entreated  Colonel  Von  Donop  to  talie  away  bis  troops,  as  otherwise  the 
American  flotilla  would  proceed  to  a  bombardment  of  the  town.  Von 
Donop  hesitated  to  comply  with  their  request  ;  and  Commodore  Seymour 
discharged  a  few  round-shot,  which  injured  no  one,  but  effectually  cleared 
the  place  of  the  Hessians.  This  Mayor  of  Burlington  was  Mr.  John 
Lawrence,  the  father  of  James  Lawrence  who,  as  Captain  of  tho 
Chesapeake,  was  killed  in  her  duel  with  the  Shannon. 


RALL  AND   VON  DONOP  9 1 

Americans,  —  thirty,  seventy,  and,  on  occasion,  even 
four  hundred  strong,  —  boated  over  to  New  Jersey  as 
openly  as  if  they  were  a  troop  of  graziers  repairing  in 
time  of  peace  to  a  mart  or  a  cattle-fair;  attacked  out- 
lying pickets ;  cut  off  foragers ;  and  killed  dragoons 
who  were  carrying  messages  from  one  Royal  com- 
mander to  another.  These  roving  bands  were  supplied 
with  information,  and  forewarned  of  danger,  by  Jersey 
farmers  and  townsmen  who  already  had  had  more  than 
enough  of  their  German  champions  and  defenders. 
Rail's  correspondence  with  Colonel  Von  Donop  a^  Bor- 
dentown,  with  General  Grant  at  New  Brunswick,  and 
with  General  Leslie  at  Princeton,  — whenever  he  could 
contrive  to  get  a  letter  through,  —  soon  became  a  dole- 
ful record  of  alarms,  anxieties,  and  misfortunes.  At 
length,  after  a  pair  of  orderlies  had  lost,  the  one  his 
horse,  and  the  other  his  life,  Rail  sent  an  officer, 
escorted  by  a  hundred  men  and  a  piece  of  artillery,  to 
admonish  Leslie  that  communication  between  Trenton 
and  Princeton  would  soon  be  impracticable  unless  the 
wing  of  a  regiment  was  stationed  at  the  intermediate 
village  of  Maidenhead.  It  was  a  signal  evidence  that 
the  use  of  metaphors,  often  misleading  in  politics,  may 
sometimes  be  absolutely  fatal  in  war.  Before  ever  the 
packet,  bearing  Sir  William  Howe's  despatch  of  the 
twentieth  of  December,  had  got  past  Sandy  Hook  on 
her  way  to  England,  the  brigade  at  Trenton,  which  that 
roseate  epistle  pictured  as  one  of  a  strong  and  continu- 
ous chain  of  posts  erected  for  the  protection  of  a  loyal 
district,  was  already,  in  fact  and  in  truth,  a  beleaguered 
garrison  abandoned  to  its  own  resources  in  the  midst 
of  a  bitterly  disaffected  population. 

Washington  was  apprised  of  all  that  took  place  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  Delaware.  The  collection  of 
secret  intelligence,  throughout  the  war,  was  a  depart- 
ment which  he  kept  in  his  own  hands,  and  to  which  he 
devoted  everything  that  he  possessed  of  industry,  acute- 
ness,  and  discretion.  In  the  utmost  penury  of  the 
Philadelphian   treasury,  —  when    the    paper   issued   by 


92  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Congress  had  become  so  discredited  that  a  pound  of 
sugar  cost  fifty  shillings,  and  a  single  garment  from  a 
tailor's  shop  sold  for  a  thousand  dollars  in  currency,^— - 
Washington  always  made  a  point  of  having  by  him  a 
small  supply  of  hard  money  to  pay  for  early  and  accu- 
rate information  about  the  movements  and,  if  possible, 
the  intentions  of  the  enemy.  He  doled  out  that  pre- 
cious metal  to  his  officers,  all  the  continent  over,  in 
sums  of  twenty,  and  twenty-five,  guineas  at  a  time.  He 
sent  them  phials  of  invisible  ink  for  confidential  corre- 
spondence, and  directions  how  to  use  it ;  together  with 
minute  instructions  as  to  the  individuals  who  should  be 
employed,  and  the  assumed  names  by  which  they  were 
severally  called. ^  The  methods  and  doings,  and  even 
the  identity,  of  some  among  his  most  trusted  agents 
were  known  to  himself,  and  to  himself  alone.  Their 
personal  risk  was  awful ;  for  a  detected  spy,  in  either 
camp,  suffered  instant,  certain,  and  shameful  death,  in 
obedience  to  the  stern  military  code  which  all  nations 
equally  recognised.  But  there  was  a  danger  which 
American  citizens  feared  yet  worse  than  the  gallows. 
It  was  indispensable  for  them,  (so  Washington  himself 
expressed  it,)  to  bear  the  suspicion  of  being  thought 
inimical  to  the  national  cause ;  nor  was  it  in  their  power 
to  assert  their  innocence,  because  their  future  usefulness 
would  be  destroyed  if  once  they  disclosed  themselves 
as  partisans  of  the  Revolution.^  These  men  implicitly 
relied  upon  their  general's  promise  that,  when  the  war 
was   over,  their   true  story  should  be   made  known  to 


1  The  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography  for  April 
1901;   page  21. 

2  Washington  to  the  President  of  Congress,  August  25,  1778;  and 
September  4,  1778.  To  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  September  24,  1779  ;  and 
again  February  5,  17S0.  These  entries  are  specimens.  References  to  the 
same  subject  in  Washington's  letters  are  far  too  numerous  to  quote.  The 
receipts  and  expenditure  on  Secret  Services  are  carefully  entered  in  his 
accounts.  During  the  eighteen  months  which  followed  the  evacuation  of 
Boston  he  disbursed  under  this  head  some  fifteen  hundred  pounds. 

3  Washington  to  Governor  Livingston ;  Valley  Forge,  January  20, 
1778. 


RALL  AND    VON  DO  NOP  93 

the  world ;  and  that,  if  they  perished  in  his  service,  he 
would  see  their  memory  righted.^ 

Of  such  was  John  Honeyman ;  a  veteran  who  had 
been  in  Wolfe's  body-guard  at  the  battle  of  Quebec, 
but  who  had  convinced  himself  that  the  interests  of 
America  were  not,  at  the  present  juncture,  served  by 
Sir  William  Howe  and  Governor  Tryon,  and  still  less 
by  Lieutenant  General  Von  Heister  and  his  Hessians. 
Honeyman,  whose  real  sentiments  were  carefully  con- 
cealed, passed  among  his  country  neighbours  by  the 
appellation  of  the  Tory  Traitor.  He  gained  his  liveli- 
hood as  a  butcher  and  cattle-dealer ;  and  during  the 
.bird  week  of  December  he  was  constantly  in  and  around 
Trenton,  procuring  beeves  from  the  farmers,  and  bring- 
ing them  into  the  town  for  slaughter.  When  he  had 
seen  and  heard  enough  to  form  a  judgement,  he  got 
himself  captured  by  some  American  scouts,  who  strapped 
him  to  a  horse,  and  carried  him  to  the  head-quarters  of 
their  army  at  Newtown.  There  the  Commander-in-Chief 
examined  him  in  private  for  the  space  of  half  an  hour, 
and  then  ordered  him  to  be  imprisoned  and  brought 
before  a  court-martial  on  the  morrow  ;  but,  when  morn- 
ing came,  Honeyman  had  vanished.     Eighteen  months 

1  Lafayette  gradually  acquired  a  personal  influence  over  the  American 
soldiery  only  second  to  that  of  Washington.  In  September  178 1  he  per- 
suaded one  Morgan,  a  private  in  a  New  Jersey  regiment,  to  take  his  life 
in  his  hands,  enter  Yorktown  in  the  character  of  a  deserter,  and  learn 
what  he  could  concerning  the  situation  of  the  garrison.  Morgan  con- 
sented with  great  reluctance.  "  He  told  the  general  that  he  would  go,  on 
one  condition  ;  which  was  that,  in  case  any  disaster  should  happen  to  him, 
the  general  should  make  the  true  state  of  the  case  known,  and  have  the 
particulars  pubhshed  in  the  New  Jersey  gazettes,  that  no  reproach  might 
come  u])on  his  family  and  friends." 

Lafayette  assented.  Morgan  did  his  errand,  and  returned  safe,  bring- 
ing over  no  fewer  than  seven  real  deserters  with  him.  Lafayette  offered 
him  money  and  promotion  ;  but  he  refused  both.  He  believed  himself, 
(he  said,)  to  be  a  good  soldier.  He  might  not  make  so  good  a  sergeant  ; 
and  he  preferred  to  remain  where  he  would  be  the  most  useful  to  his 
country.  Since,  however,  the  general  wished  to  oblige  him,  he  had  a 
favour  to  ask.  While  he  was  away,  some  one  had  taken  his  gun.  He 
set  great  store  by  it,  and  would  be  particularly  pleased  to  have  it  once 
again.  Nearly  half  a  century  afterwards  Lafayette  related  the  story  as 
an  anecdote  in  every  respect  characteristic  of  the  Revulutionary  soldier. 


94  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION' 

afterwards  some  prominent  Whigs  arraigned  him  before 
the  Magistrates  as  having  aided  and  comforted  the 
enemies  of  New  Jersey  in  the  evil  days  wlien  that  State 
was  occupied  by  the  invader ;  but  in  the  end  Honeyman 
surmounted  all  his  perils,  and  long  out-lived  his  unpop- 
ularity. He  died  in  the  odour  of  patriotism,  at  the  ripe 
age  of  ninety-three. 

That  conversation  on  a  winter  night  between  Wash- 
ington and  John  Honeyman  settled  the  fate  of  Colonel 
Rail  and  the  brigade  which  he  commanded.^  The 
faulty  disposition  of  the  Hessians  inside  Trenton,  and 
the  absence  there  of  all  due  caution  and  preparation, 
were  now  intimately  known  to  the  American  general ; 
and  he  had  informed  himself  quite  sufficiently  about  the 
state  of  things  prevailing  in  the  district  outside  the  con- 
fines of  the  village.  It  was  his  constant  custom  to  send 
across  the  British  lines  a  number  of  horsemen,  habited 
like  well-to-do  rustic  folk,  and  to  keep  them  riding 
backwards  and  forwards  through  and  through  the 
country,  making  their  mental  notes  leisurely  and  coolly, 
and  with  all  but  assured  impunity .^  In  this  respect, 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  Washington  possessed  a 
great  advantage  over  the  Royal  generals.  The  spies 
accredited  by  Sir  William  Howe  and  Sir  Henry  Clinton 
had  unusual  hazards  and  difficulties  to  encounter ;  and, 
unless  they  shirked  the  business  of  their  mission,  their 
careers  were  for  the  most  part  very  brief.  Washing- 
ton's army  contained  regiments  from  all  the  States ; 
and  within  the  precincts  of  his  camp  there  was  sure  to 
be  at  least  one  native  of  any  given  county  and  town- 
ship in  the  Confederacy.  If  the  Royal  spy  was  of  colo- 
nial origin,  it  was  long  odds  that  some  rebel  militiaman 
or  another  would  recognise  him  for  a  fellow-townsman 
and  a  Loyalist ;  and,  if  he  was  an  Englishman,  he  had 
to  undergo  that  searching  catechism  of  personal  inqui- 
ries which,  then  and  long  afterwards,  in  peace  and  war 

^  In  Stryker's  Trenton  and  Princeton  a  narrative  is  given  of  Honey- 
man's  proceedings  during  December  1776. 

2  Washington  to  Major  General  Patnam  ;   January  5,  1777. 


RALL  AND    VON  DO  NOP  95 

alike,  it  was  the  pleasure  of  every  true  American  to 
inflict  upon  a  stranger  for  the  gratification  of  his  own 
curiosity.  But  Washington's  corporals  and  sergeants, 
—  who  even  in  their  uniforms  looked  much  more  like 
agriculturists  than  military  men,  —  when  got  up  as 
harmless  civilians  could  make  the  round  of  British  biv- 
ouacs without  fear  of  meeting  any  one  who  knew  their 
faces,  their  antecedents,  or  their  political  opinions  ;  and 
they  were  safer  still  in  the  company  of  Hessians,  none 
of  whom  could  so  much  as  tell  a  Yankee  from  a  Caro- 
linian. The  Revolutionary  emissaries  wandered  at 
ease  through  the  cantonments  of  Grant,  and  Leslie,  and 
Von  Donop ;  talking  Toryism,  peddling  tobacco,  and 
picking  up  valuable  materials  for  observation  at  every 
turn.  Their  general  was  soon  absolutely  certified  that, 
if  he  moved  forward  quietly  and  rapidly,  he  would  have 
at  least  three  clear  and  uninterrupted  days  within  which 
to  arrange  the  accounts  of  Colonel  Rail  and  his  regi- 
ments. General  Grant  had  under  his  own  hand  at 
Brunswick  considerably  less  than  a  thousand  men ; 
round  Princeton  the  troops  were  dispersed  in  winter 
quarters,  and  had  given  over  the  very  idea  of  further 
movements  until  spring  arrived ;  while  in  Burlington 
County  the  Royal  soldiers  were  reported  as  "  scattered 
through  all  the  farmers'  houses, — eight,  ten,  twelve, 
and  fifteen  in  a  house,  —  and  rambling  over  the  whole 
country."  ^ 

Washington's  opportunity  had  come ;  and  not  a 
moment  too  soon.  He  already  had  confessed  to  his 
brother  that "  the  game  was  pretty  nearly  up,"  owing  to 
the  defection  of  the  middle  colonies  from  the  American 
cause,  to  the  ruinous  policy  of  short  enlistments,  and 
the  too  great  dependence  which  had  been  placed  on  the 
militia.^  Every  clause  of  that  melancholy  sentence 
was  correct  in  all  particulars.  Governor  Tryon  exult- 
ingly   wrote   to    Lord    George   Germaine    that    in    the 

^  Colonel  Reed  to  General  Washington  ;   Bristol,  December  22,  1776. 
2  Letter  to  J(jhii  Augustine    Washington  ;    Camp    near    the    Falls   of 
Trenton,  December  18,  1776. 


96  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

colony  of  New  York  loyalty  towards  the  Crown  was  no 
longer  a  passive  or  a  timorous  sentiment.  One  day  he 
had  mustered  under  the  Royal  standard  eight  hundred 
and  twenty  armed  inhabitants  of  Queen's  County ;  and 
on  another  the  oath  of  allegiance  was  administered  to 
almost  as  many  of  the  Suffolk  Militia.  Not  a  murmur 
of  discontent  could  be  heard  throughout  the  whole 
crowd  which  witnessed  that  imposing  ceremony.  Gen- 
eral George  Clinton,  on  the  other  hand,  who  governed, 
in  the  interest  of  the  Revolution,  as  much  of  the  prov- 
ince of  New  York  as  Howe  had  not  reconquered, 
informed  the  State  Convention  that  his  men  had  gone 
away,  and  still  were  going,  without  leave  and  in  great 
numbers.  He  doubted,  (he  said,)  whether  he  had 
strength  enough  to  bring  them  back  even  though  he 
should  leave  his  lines  undefended,  and  employ  his  whole 
remaining  force  to  hunt  up  and  recover  the  defaulters.^ 
It  is  certain  that  the  entire,  and  the  almost  immediate, 
dissolution  of  the  Provincial  forces  was  serenely  antici- 
pated at  the  British  head-quarters  in  New  York  city. 
Washington  himself  fully  believed  that  his  adversary  was 
only  waiting  till  the  ice  bore,  and  the  Continental  troops 
had  melted  away,  in  order  to  draw  his  brigades  once 
more  together,  and  advance  upon  Philadelphia.^  That 
fear  was  not  chimerical ;  for  by  the  end  of  the  first  fort- 
night in  January  the  Delaware  was  frozen  so  hard  that, 
if  Sir  WiUiam  Howe  had  still  been  in  fighting  mood, 
(which,  for  good  reasons,  he  no  longer  was,)  he  might 


1  General  Clinton  to  the  President  of  the  Convention  of  New  York  ; 
December  28,  1776. 

"  Our  people  here  are  many  of  them  in  the  utmost  distress  about  their 
families,  and  other  affairs  at  home,  at  this  severe  season.  Their  com- 
plaints are  most  desperate,  and  I  am  afraid  many  women  and  children, 
together  with  their  cattle,  will  suffer,  if  not  perish,  and  am  sorry  to  Inform 
you  that,  In  spite  of  all  our  Efforts,  I  am  convinc'd  the  Melitia  will  go 
home  Bodily,  Before  three  Days,  the  consequence  of  which  is  obvious  to 
Every  man  of  the  least  desernment."  Colonel  Allison  to  General  George 
Chnton  ;  Tappan,  December  27,  1776.  The  news  of  Trenton  had  not,  by 
then,  penetrated  to  the  Hudson  river. 

■^  General  Washington  to  Colonel  Reed  ;   December  23,  1776. 


TRENTON  97 

have  marched  his  infantry  across  the  river  in  extended 
order  of  battle. 

One  hope  remained  to  comfort  the  mind,  and  stimu- 
late the  faculties,  of  the  American  commander.  A 
single  brilliant  and  indisputable  success,  all  the  more 
surely  in  proportion  as  it  was  unexpected,  would  reani- 
mate the  spirit  of  the  nation,  decide  waverers,  recall 
absentees  to  arms,  and  set  the  embers  of  the  Revolution 
once  more  in  a  blaze.  As  early  as  the  fourteenth  of 
December  Washington,  in  no  less  than  three  letters, 
expressed  that  conviction,  and  declared  his  intention  to 
act  upon  it.^  The  announcement,  however,  was  made 
in  general  terms;  and  he  thenceforward  kept  his  own 
counsel.  From  the  time  when  specific  information 
about  the  distribution  of  his  enemy's  forces  began  to 
reach  him,  and  his  own  scheme  of  action  took  definite 
shape,  all  further  allusion  to  the  subject  disappeared 
even  from  his  most  familiar  correspondence.  At  last, 
on  the  twenty-third  of  December,  when  his  views  were 
clear  and  his  plans  thought  out,  he  wrote  thus  to  the 
Adjutant  General  of  the  army.  "  Christmas-day  at 
night,  one  hour  before  day,  is  the  time  fixed  for  our 
attempt  on  Trenton.  For  Heaven's  sake  keep  this  to 
yourself ;  as  the  discovery  of  it  may  prove  fatal  to  us, 
—  our  numbers,  sorry  am  I  to  say,  being  less  than  I 
had  any  conception  of.  But  necessity,  dire  necessity, 
will,  nay  must,  justify  an  attempt." 

On  Christmas  Eve,  General  Greene  requested  the 
family  with  whom  he  lodged  to  leave  their  house  in  his 
charge  for  the  night.     When  the  coast  was  clear,  Wash- 

1  One  of  these  letters  was  addressed  to  General  Heath,  and  another  to 
General  Gates.  In  the  third,  Washington  wrote  to  Governor  Trumbull 
of  Connecticut  about  the  troops  whom  Schuyler  had  sent  down  from 
Albany  and  Ticonderoga.  "  By  coming  on  they  may  in  conjunction 
with  my  present  force,  and  that  under  General  Lee,  enable  us  to  attempt 
a  stroke  upon  the  forces  of  the  enemy,  who  lie  a  good  deal  scattered,  and 
to  all  appearance  in  a  state  of  security.  A  lucky  blow  in  this  quarter 
would  be  fatal  to  them,  and  would  most  certainly  rouse  the  spirits  of  the 
people,  which  are  quite  sunk  by  our  late  misfortunes." 

VOL.  III.  H 


98  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

ington  and  his  principal  officers  came  in  to  supper  ;  and, 
before  they  left  the  table,  all  their  preparations  were 
complete.  Colonel  Cadwalader,  —  himself  a  Philadel- 
phian,  —  was  to  take  the  Philadelphian  Associators,  and 
a  brigade  of  New  Englanders,  across  the  Delaware  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Bristol,  and  beat  up  Von  Donop's 
cantonments  at  Bordentown.^  General  Ewing,  with 
something  under  a  thousand  militiamen,  was  bidden  to 
pass  the  river  at  Trenton  Ferry,  and  station  his  troops 
on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Assunpink  Creek.  Wash- 
ington himself,  meanwhile,  purposed  to  traverse  the 
stream  at  a  higher  point,  and  advance  against  Colonel 
Rail's  position  from  the  northwest  quarter.  His 
force  consisted  of  twenty-four  hundred  Continental 
veterans  under  Greene  and  Sullivan,  and  no  fewer  than 
eighteen  cannon.  So  large  a  mass  of  artillery  was  a 
grievous  incumbrance  on  this  night  march,  undertaken 
with  intent  to  surprise  an  enemy  covered  by  a  nearly 
impassable  current ;  but  the  future  showed  that  the 
arrangement  had  been  dictated  by  just  foresight.  Each 
of  the  seven  brigades  was  to  be  furnished  with  two 
good  guides.  Every  officer  in  the  column  was  to  set 
his  watch  by  Washington's,  and  to  fasten  a  piece  of  white 
paper  conspicuously  in  his  hat.  Every  man  carried 
cooked  provisions  for  three  days  ;  a  blanket  to  cover  him 
if  ever  he  found  leisure  to  lie  down  ;  a  new  flint  screwed 
into  the  hammer  of  his  piece,  and  forty  rounds  of  am- 
munition which,  whatever  might  be  the  case  later  on, 
were  at  all  events  to  be  dry  when  the  expedition  started. 
An  express   rider  was  despatched  to  summon  Doctor 

^  This  was  a  brother  of  that  Colonel  Cailwalader  who  was  taken  at  Fort 
Washington,  and  who  was  released  by  Sir  William  Howe  in  return  for 
civilities  shown  by  the  Colonel's  father  to  General  Prescott  when  a 
prisoner  in  Philadelphia.  Washington,  in  terms  of  unwonted  vivacity, 
expressed  an  apprehension  lest  the  Continental  officers  might  "  kick  up 
some  dust "  at  being  placed  under  the  command  of  a  brigadier  from  the 
militia.  He  accordingly  desired  General  Horatio  Gates  to  lead  the  force 
which  was  destined  to  attack  Von  Donop  ;  but  Gates  pleaded  illness,  and 
went  off  to  Baltimore,  where  he  put  himself  in  touch  with  the  less 
respectable  Members  of  Congress,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  an  intrigue 
directed  against  the  leadership  of  Washington. 


TRENTON  99 

Shippen  and  his  assistants  from  the  hospital  at  Bethle- 
hem, with  orders  to  accompany  the  march,  and  be  close 
at  hand  when  the  firing  began.  The  pass-word  for  the 
ensuing  evening  was  "  Victory  or  Death  "  ;  and  there 
was  hardly  a  soldier  in  the  ranks  who  did  not  understand 
why  that  phrase  had  been  chosen. 

The  weather  was  frightful.  Intense  cold  set  in  on 
the  twentieth  of  December ;  and  the  Delaware,  from 
bank  to  bank,  swam  thick  with  frozen  blocks,  which 
were  already  piled  into  a  mass  lower  down  the  river 
where  the  stream  was  affected  by  the  tides.  Ewing 
found  himself  unable  to  cross  at  Trenton  Ferry.  Cad- 
walader  tried  first  above  Bristol,  and  then  below ;  but 
he  encountered  a  solid  field  of  ice,  three  hundred  feet 
in  breadth,  between  the  open  water  and  the  Jersey 
shore ;  and  though,  by  dint  of  great  exertions,  he  at 
length  landed  a  part  of  his  infantry,  they  came  too  late, 
and  the  event  was  decided  without  him.  Washington's 
own  difficulties  were  somewhat  less,  and  he  had  more 
perfect  appliances  wherewith  to  surmount  them ;  but 
the  task  which  awaited  him  was  rude  enough.  At  two 
in  the  afternoon  on  Christmas  day  his  little  battalions 
stepped  off  from  their  quarters ;  and  before  sunset  the 
whole  force  was  assembled  on  the  shore  in  front  of 
McKenky's  Ferry.  Those  who  were  behind  time  could 
easily  trace  the  route  which  their  comrades  had  fol- 
lowed ;  "  for  the  snow  was  tinged  here  and  there  with 
blood  from  the  feet  of  the  men  who  wore  broken  shoes." 
It  had  confidently  been  hoped  that  the  troops  would 
have  been  transported  across  the  river  by  midnight,  so 
that  they  might  have  the  rest  of  the  darkness  for  their 
march  to  Trenton,  and  be  in  a  position  for  commencing 
an  attack  with  the  earUest  gleam  of  dawn.  But  the 
Delaware  ran  high  and  strong ;  the  cold  was  sharp  to 
the  point  of  torture  ;  and  about  eleven  o'clock  a  bewil- 
dering tempest  of  sleet  and  hail  was  hurled  athwart  the 
channel  on  a  fierce,  bitter  wind.  Huge  jagged  cakes 
of  ice,  troublesome  from  the  first,  were  a  more  dan- 
gerous obstacle  at  each   successive   crossing.       During 


lOO  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

nine  mortal  hours  the  Marblehead  fishermen  con- 
tended with  the  gale  and  the  flood.  Captain  Blunt  of 
Portsmouth  saw  the  boat-loads  off,  timed  the  journeys 
to  and  fro,  and  instructed  the  steersmen  as  to  the 
allowance  which  should  be  made  for  the  force  of  the 
current.  Colonel  Knox  shouted  directions  to  the  troops 
in  stentorian  accents,  which  were  heard  through  the 
roaring  of  the  storm,  and  never  left  his  station  on  the 
Pennsylvanian  bank  until  he  had  assured  himself  that 
not  an  ammunition  cart  or  an  artillery  horse  remained 
on  the  wrong  side  of  the  river.  Even  at  that  unnatural 
hour,  and  in  those  inclement  surroundings,  the  Ameri- 
cans found  a  hearty  welcome  on  the  Jersey  shore.  The 
township  of  Hopewell,  in  that  province,  was  one  of  the 
two  districts  which  had  suffered  most  cruelly  from  the 
devastations  of  the  Hessians.  A  hint  had  got  abroad 
that  Washington  was  expected  ;  and  all  the  able-bodied 
men  turned  out  from  their  ransacked  homes  to  meet 
him.  They  hauled  up  the  great  Durham  boats  through 
the  shallow  water ;  they  helped  to  coax  the  horses,  and 
turn  the  spokes  of  the  cannon-wheels,  down  extem- 
porised bridges  which  gave  access  from  the  vessels  to 
the  shore ;  and  every  one  of  them  either  accompanied 
or  preceded  the  army  to  the  field  of  action.  Some 
were  guides.  Others  went  on  ahead,  secure  from  sus- 
picion in  their  farming  clothes,  to  spy  out,  and  report 
upon,  the  amount  of  vigilance  displayed  by  the  out- 
lying Hessian  pickets.  One,  an  old  miller,  —  whom  the 
Germans  had  imprisoned,  but  who  escaped,  costumed 
as  a  woodsman  with  an  axe  on  his  shoulder,  after 
having  been  under  the  same  roof  as  Colonel  Rail, — 
brought  to  Washington  the  very  latest  news  from  the 
interior  of  Trenton. 

As  the  storm  increased, — and  as  the  night,  with  its 
priceless  advantages  for  an  assailant,  slipped  away,  — 
the  American  commander  sate,  tranquil  and  silent,  amid 
an  anxious  and  despondent  group  of  generals.  It  was 
not  till  four  o'clock  on  the  Thursday  morning  that  the 
army  was   formed  up   for   the    march    upon    Trenton. 


TRENTON  10 1 

The  scene  was  cheerless,  more  especially  for  the 
younger  privates,  who  were  already  very  near  the  end 
of  the  small  stock  of  vital  energy  which  a  long  cam- 
paign had  left  them.  Dead-beat  and  footsore,  they 
slipped  and  stumbled  amid  the  frozen  slush,  drenched 
through  and  through  by  the  merciless  hail.  Their 
officers  walked  among  them,  teaching  them,  by  precept 
and  example,^  to  cover  the  locks  of  their  muskets  in 
their  blankets,  or  beneath  their  coat-skirts ;  reminding 
them  of  worse  times ;  and  promising  them  a  fair  and 
speedy  chance  to  retrieve  their  past  defeats.  Half-way 
to  Trenton  a  halt  was  called,  and  the  soldiers  took  a 
hasty  meal,  while  Washington  breakfasted  in  the  saddle. 
When  the  order  was  given  to  re-form  the  ranks,  many 
were  already  asleep  at  the  road  side,  and  could  with 
difficulty  be  got  once  more  upon  their  feet.  The  two 
divisions  pursued  separate  routes.  Sullivan  led  three 
brigades  along  the  lower  road,  nearest  to  the  river; 
and  Greene,  with  four  brigades,  came  by  the  Penning- 
ton highway.  A  detachment  of  artillerymen  went  with 
the  advanced  parties,  carrying  spikes  and  hammers  to 
disable,  and  drag-ropes  to  secure,  the  enemy's  cannon. 
On  both  roads  four  field-pieces  travelled  in  front  of  the 
infantry,  and  the  others  followed  at  intervals,  well 
forward  in  the  line  of  march.  Colonel  Knox  had 
brought  all  his  guns  for  use,  even  at  the  risk  of  losing 
some  few  of  them  by  capture.  Washington  rode  along 
on  his  chestnut-sorrel  charger,  sunk  in  thought,  but 
from  time  to  time  calling  to  his  men,  "  Press  on  ;  press 
on,  boys."  The  first  signs  of  daylight  now  began  to 
appear;  and  all  hope  of  surprising  the  Hessians  in 
their  beds  was  perforce  abandoned.^  The  boldest  felt 
that  they  had  better  make  the  most  of  that  sunrise,  as 
they  might  never  see  another.     No  one  was  sanguine 

*  The  American  regimental  officers  carried  fusees;  and  some,  who 
knew  that  they  could  use  a  rifle  with  advantage,  had  provided  themselves 
with  that  weapon. 

2  Stryker's  Trenton  and  Princeton.  His  account  of  the  passage  over 
the  Delaware,  and  of  the  night  march,  is  excellent  throughout. 


I02  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

enough  to  anticipate,  what  was  indeed  the  case,  that 
the  hardest,  and  even  tlie  most  perilous,  section  of  their 
enterprise  had  already  been  accomplished. 

The  preliminary  arrangements  for  the  expedition, 
though  made  with  all  possible  secrecy  and  circum- 
spection, had  been  elaborate  and  comprehensive.  They 
embraced  a  large  extent  of  country,  and  inevitably 
challenged  the  observation  of  hostile  eyes.  Colonel 
Rail  had  not  been  at  the  pains  to  send  spies  into  the 
American  lines;  but  two  deserters  from  the  Conti- 
nental army  informed  him  that  the  Philadelphian  mili- 
tia were  assembling,  and  that  Washington's  soldiers 
were  employed  in  cooking  enough  rations  for  several 
days.  A  Tory  farmer  from  Pennsylvania  brought  word 
that  Trenton  would  certainly  be  attacked  at  an  early 
moment ;  and  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  December 
General  Grant  wrote  from  Brunswick  that  he  had 
"got  into  a  good  line  of  intelligence,"  and  had  learned 
enough  to  assure  himself  that  the  Hessians  ought  at 
once  to  put  themselves  on  their  guard.  German 
officers,  who  had  very  good  reasons  for  avoiding  the 
possible  contingency  of  having  the  packages  and 
bundles  in  their  private  waggons  overhauled  by  an 
American  victor,  suggested  to  Colonel  Rail  that  the 
baggage  might  be  transferred  to  a  place  of  safety ;  but 
he  replied  that  whoever  could  capture  him,  and  his 
brigade,  might  take  the  baggage  as  well.  If  the  rebels, 
(he  said,)  came  across  the  Delaware,  the  best  they  could 
hope  for  was  a  good  retreat.  And  so  the  Germans 
set  themselves  down  to  enjoy  their  Christmas;  with 
kindly  thoughts,  doubtless,  of  those  whom  they  had 
left  behind  them  in  Franconia  and  Westphalia ;  but 
with  no  pity  or  compunction  for  the  cold  hearths,  and 
bare  larders,  of  many  a  New  Jersey  family.^  About 
seven  in  the  evening  on  Christmas  day  a  noise  of  firing 

1  A  great  deal  has  been  written  about  the  drunken  revels  of  the 
Hessians;  but  all  the  evidence  goes  to  shovi'  that  they  were  badly  off  for 
liquor  that  Christmas.  The  officers  were  distressed  about  the  price  of 
Madeira,  which  was  three  and  sixpence  a  bottle.     Rail  exerted  himself 


TRENTON  1.03 

suddenly  broke  out  on  the  north  of  the  town,  and  all 
the  three  regiments  were  mustered  for  battle.  It  was 
little  more  than  a  false  alarm.  An  American  scouting 
party  had  surprised  the  outposts,  and  had  wounded 
half  a  dozen  Hessians  without  any  loss  to  themselves. 
Rail  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this  was  the  aggres- 
sive movement  with  reference  to  which  General  Grant 
had  cautioned  him.  The  troops  were  dismissed,  and 
returned  to  their  merry-making;  and  he  himself  re- 
paired as  guest  to  a  jovial  supper,  where  he  stopped 
over  his  cards  and  wine  until  the  late  v^inter  morning 
had  nearly  come.  In  the  course  of  that  night,  a  Loyal- 
ist from  across  the  river  knocked  at  the  door  of  the 
house  where  the  festival  was  in  progress,  and  asked  to 
see  the  Colonel.  Refused  admittance,  he  wrote  a  few 
Hnes,  and  gave  injunctions  that  they  should  at  once  be 
delivered  to  Rail,  who  slipped  the  note  into  his  pocket 
unread.  Not  many  hours  afterwards  when,  as  a  dying 
man,  he  had  been  undressed  for  the  last  time,  this 
scrap  of  paper  was  found  in  his  clothes ;  and  he 
learned  the  nature  of  the  neglected  warning  with  resig- 
nation and  contrition. 

On  the  evening  of  Christmas  day,  when  the  alarm 
had  subsided,  but  before  the  brigade  was  dispersed  to 
quarters.  Major  von  Dechow  earnestly  adjured  his 
commanding  officer  to  send  out  strong  patrols  along  all 
the  roads,  and  as  far  as  the  ferries ;  but  Rail  answered 
that  morning  would  be  time  enough.  A  half  troop  of 
English  Light  Dragoons  had  been  attached  to  his  com- 
mand, and  some  of  them  were  usually  employed  in 
reconnoitring  the  vicinity ;  but  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
December  that  precaution  was  omitted.  Three  infan- 
try privates  only  went  off  to  scout ;  and,  after  walking 
a  short  distance  into  the  country,  they  returned  long 
before  daybreak  with  the  report  that  nothing  was  stir- 
ring.    One   company   of   the   Von    Lossberg   regiment 

to  procure  spruce-beer,  or  small  beer,  for  his  soldiers,  but  not  very 
successfully  ;  and,  at  the  best,  those  beverages  were  poor  drink  for  the 
countrymen  of  King  Gambrinus. 


I04  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

was  Stationed  on  the  Pennington  road,  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  outside  Trenton ;  and  at  nearly  the  same  distance 
further  on  was  the  advance-post,  which  on  this  occasion 
was  held  by  a  score  of  the  Von  Knyphausens  under 
Lieutenant  Wiederhold.  This  young  gentleman  was  a 
smart  officer,  especially  when  criticising  his  superiors 
after  things  had  happened ;  but  at  the  place,  and  the 
moment,  of  all  others,  he  himself  was  not  sufficiently 
alive  to  the  danger.  Chancing  to  step  out  of  the  house 
at  a  quarter  to  eight  in  the  morning,  he  saw  a  number 
of  men  coming  through  the  edge  of  the  woods  about 
two  hundred  yards  away.  They  were  General  Greene's 
skirmishers ;  and  the  main  column  was  close  behind. 
The  fight  at  once  began,  —  fast,  furious,  and  unceasing 
from  the  earliest  minute  to  the  last.  Before  the  officers 
in  charge  of  Rail's  outposts  had  time  to  look  about 
them,  the  Americans  were  thick  in  their  front.  Along 
both  roads  the  tide  of  battle  surged  with  extraordinary 
violence.  The  Hessian  pickets  on  the  Pennington  high- 
way were  rolled  up,  and  driven  back  into  the  town,  a 
great  deal  the  worse  for  the  collision.  Sullivan,  in  the 
quarter  towards  the  river,  without  losing  a  man  of  his 
own,  beat  in  a  picket  of  fifty  chasseurs.  Hunters  and 
gamekeepers  from  the  German  forests,  they  passed  in 
Europe  for  dead  shots  at  stags  and  poachers ;  but  they 
aimed  badly  when  their  target  was  a  backwoodsman 
with  the  butt  of  a  rifle  at  his  shoulder.  The  tactical 
movements,  on  which  success  or  failure  depended, 
were  conducted  with  rare  precision  and  marvellous  celer- 
ity. Even  if  grass  could  have  grown  in  such  weather, 
there  would  have  been  no  great  crop  of  it  that  day  be- 
neath the  feet  of  Washington's  people.  Greene's  two 
leading  brigades  filed  steadily  and  swiftly  past  the  north- 
ern entrance  of  Trenton,  and  formed  up  in  a  continuous 
line  extending  from  the  Princeton  highway  to  the  Assun- 
pink  Creek.  His  third  brigade,  which  General  Mercer 
commanded,  turned  off  the  road  by  which  they  had 
hitherto  travelled,  got  into  touch  with  Sullivan,  and 
assailed  the  western  skirts  of  the  village ;  while  Lord 


TRENTON  105 

Stirling,  who  hitherto  had  marched  at  the  tail  of  the 
column,  drew  up  his  slender,  but  well-tried,  battalions 
of  Southern  infantry  opposite  the  junction  of  the  two 
principal  streets,  on  the  very  spot  which  Von  Donop 
had  marked  out  as  a  site  for  the  redoubt  that  never  had 
been  erected. 

The  net  had  been  drawn,  almost  without  an  inter- 
stice, around  the  devoted  village  before  the  garrison 
was  arrayed  for  battle.  Their  brigade  adjutant  looked 
into  Rail's  chamber  at  six  o'clock,  and  again  at  seven  ; 
but  on  both  occasions  he  found  its  occupant  sleeping 
heavily.  When  the  rattle  of  small  arms  arose  outside 
the  town,  he  a  third  time  knocked  loudly  at  the  front 
door ;  and  the  colonel,  roused  at  last,  flung  on  his  uni- 
form, and  was  instantaneously  in  the  street.  Fiery  sol- 
dier that  he  always  was,  nothing  except  the  prospect  of 
a  fight  would  have  drawn  him  out  of  his  bed  without  a 
grumble.  He  at  once  set  his  troops  in  such  order  as 
was  permitted  by  the  hurry,  and  by  the  fatal  disadvan- 
tage of  the  restricted  locality  within  which  he  was  now 
reduced  to  manoeuvre.  His  own  regiment  fell  in  some 
distance  down  King  Street,  which  was  the  western  of 
the  two  thoroughfares  ;  and  the  Von  Lossbergs  mustered 
in  Church  Alley,  at  the  back  of  the  poplar  trees,  with 
orders  to  clear  Queen  Street  of  the  rebels.  Von  Dechow 
drew  up  his  battalion  to  the  rearward,  at  a  right  angle 
with  the  rest  of  the  brigade,  and  faced  Sullivan  in  the 
southern  quarter  of  the  town.  But  the  streets  of  Tren- 
ton, with  round-shot  already  bounding  along  the  cause- 
ways, were  ill  suited  for  an  assembling-ground.  Colonel 
Knox  had  placed  his  guns  in  Kne  as  fast  as  they  arrived 
at  the  cross-roads,  and  gave  them  the  range  himself ; 
and  the  Americans  had  pushed  forward  so  briskly  that 
Alexander  Hamilton,  —  who  marched  with  the  reserve, 
and  was  therefore  the  last  to  unlimber,  —  discharged 
shell  with  deadly  effect  into  the  leading  company  of 
the  Von  Lossberg  regiment  as  it  emerged  from  Church 
Alley.  Of  effective  response  on  the  other  side  there 
was  none  whatever.     The  Von  Knyphausen  cannon  got 


I06  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

among  the  Von  Lossberg  ranks ;  while  the  Von  Loss- 
berg  cannon  remained  throughout  the  affair  with  the 
Von  Knyphausen  battalion,  and  made  a  very  poor  his- 
tory. For  all  the  damage  that  they  wrought,  the  Ger- 
man field-pieces  might  have  remained  in  the  arsenal  at 
Cassel;  since  their  fire  was  at  once  dominated  by  the 
American  gunners,  who  aimed  as  scrupulously  and 
coolly  as  if  they  were  shooting  at  a  mark  to  win  a 
prize  for  their  battery.  By  the  time  that  the  four  Hes- 
sian cannon  which  pointed  northwards  had  discharged 
twenty  rounds  between  them,  they  had  lost  half  their 
horses;  many  of  their  artillerymen  had  been  struck 
down ;  and  the  remainder  were  running  for  their  lives. 
Meanwhile  the  town  was  filling  up  rapidly  with 
American  marksmen,  who  were  busy  and  efficient  in  a 
theatre  of  action  which  exactly  suited  their  favourite 
mode  of  warfare.  The  streets  were  bordered  by  hand- 
some and  commodious  houses,  standing  in  enclosed 
plots  of  ground,  which  in  summer  time  were  shaded  by 
abundance  of  elm,  and  black-oak,  and  hickory. ^  The 
fences,  dividing  one  property  from  another,  were  lined 
more  thickly  every  minute  by  skirmishers,  who  pelted 
with  musketry  the  groups  of  Hessians,  huddled  up 
behind  the  tenements  for  shelter  from  the  grape-shot 
which  scoured  the  street.  The  riflemen,  —  a  privileged 
class,  who  went  their  own  way  in  battle,  —  ensconced 
themselves  under  cover  from  the  rain  in  cellars  ^  or  in 
upper  chambers;  wiped  their  priming-pans  dry;  and 
took  deliberate  shots  at  every  German  uniform  which 
showed  itself  round  a  corner.  Mercer's  troops,  who 
had  penetrated  within  the  confines  of  Trenton  from  the 

1 A  traveller,  who  visited  Trenton  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
before  the  battle,  described  the  houses  as  comfortably  built  of  stone  below, 
with  an  upper-floor  of  wood  ;  standing  flush  to  the  street,  but  apart  from 
each  other,  and  with  larger  or  smaller  gardens  to  the  rear  of  them. 
Travels  in  North  America,  by  Professor  Peter  Kalm,  in  Volume  XII.  of 
Pinkerton's  Collection.  Professor  Kalm  may  fairly  be  called  the  Swedish 
Arthur  Young. 

^Professor  Kalm  especially  noticed  the  cellars  at  Trenton,  which 
apparently  were  a  feature  of  the  place. 


TRENTON  107 

west,  fired  sharply,  and  close  at  hand,  into  the  flank 
of  the  Hessians  through  the  pales  of  a  large  tan-yard. 
After  no  long  while  Stirling  gave  the  word,  and 
launched  his  infantry,  at  a  run,  down  both  roads  towards 
the  centre  of  the  village.  If  the  German  officers  had 
so  poor  an  opinion  of  generals  and  colonels  who  were 
tradesmen  and  mechanics,  this  was  the  time  to  prove 
it;  for  Kno.x  was  a  Boston  bookseller;  Stirling  had 
kept  a  shop ;  and  Nathanael  Greene,  when  it  came  to 
forging  an  anchor,  could  hold  his  own  among  any  gang 
of  hammermen  in  Rhode  Island.  The  moment,  how- 
ever, was  one  when  social  distinctions  are  apt  to  be  in 
abeyance.  William  Washington's  Virginians  charged 
for  the  guns  in  King  Street.  Their  stalwart  captain 
was  shot  through  both  his  hands,  and  Lieutenant 
Monroe  had  an  artery  cut  by  a  ball.  If  surgical  aid 
had  not  been  promptly  forthcoming,  he  might  have 
died  then  and  there ;  and  his  doctrine,  which  in  any 
case  could  hardly  fail  to  have  been  invented,  would 
have  borne  some  different  title.  But  the  guns  were 
taken.  Rail's  own  regiment  fired  two  volleys,  and  then 
broke  and  fell  back,  throwing  the  left  wing  of  the 
Von  Lossbergs  into  great  confusion.  A  mighty  clamour 
came  from  their  rear,  where  Sullivan's  division  was 
pushing  the  Von  Knyphausens  in  hopeless  rout  across 
the  southern  districts  of  the  town.  Colonel  Stark, 
who  held  the  rail-fence  at  Bunker's  Hill,  commanded 
the  leading  regiment,  —  as  active  in  attack  as  he  had 
then  been  obstinate  in  defence.  The  names  of  his 
people  recall  the  battles  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and 
they  were  not  behindhand  with  the  Israelites  in  their 
zeal  to  smite  an  adversary.  Fifteen  or  sixteen  New 
Hampshire  men  from  Derryfield  kept  constantly  to  the 
front,  under  Sergeant  Ephraim  Stevens,  and  Captain 
Ebenezer  Frye ;  a  very  corpulent  officer  who  had 
retained  his  girth  through  all  the  hardship  and  star- 
vation of  the  Jersey  retreat.  They  are  said  to  have 
taken  prisoners  sixty  Hessians,  who  afterwards  pro- 
fessed   to   have   been    puzzled   and    misled   as   to    the 


I08  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

number  of  their  captors  by  the  headlong  and  desperate 
character  of  the  onset.  The  streets  were  thick  to  suf- 
focation with  the  smoke  of  gunpowder.  The  sleet  came 
down  more  dense  and  blinding  than  ever.  The  narrow 
spaces  resounded  with  the  roar  of  cannon  and  musket, 
with  shrieks  and  exclamations,  with  vehement  cheering, 
and  a  great  deal  of  swearing  in  two  languages.  Words 
of  command  were  thick  in  the  air ;  for  among  Wash- 
ington's troops  there  was  an  excited  captain  or  sub- 
altern to  every  ten  or  twelve  privates ;  and  some  of 
the  German  officers  exerted  themselves  bravely  and 
strenuously,  although  they  nowhere  could  induce  their 
men  to  stand.  Doors  and  windows  on  the  ground-floor 
were  beaten  in ;  and  the  dwellings  were  used  as  for- 
tresses by  the  American  riflemen,  or  as  asylums  by 
Hessians  who  sought  refuge  and  concealment  beneath 
Tory  roofs.  Colonel  Knox,  with  all  else  that  he  had  to 
occupy  his  attention,  found  time  to  bestow  a  com  passionate 
thought  upon  the  residents  of  Trenton  and  their  hapless 
families.!  The  scene,  terrible  to  civilian  householders, 
was  too  much  for  the  nerves  of  a  good  many  professional 
soldiers.  Several  hundreds  of  the  garrison  fled  across 
the  bridge  over  the  Assunpink  Creek,  which  still  was  open, 
and  made  their  way  safe  to  Bordentown.  The  calamity 
which  they  left  behind  them  was  so  overwhelming  that 
their  timely  retreat,  instead  of  being  censured  or  punished, 
was  accounted  to  them  for  righteousness.^ 

The  Hessian  Commander  began  to  be  aware  that, 
unless  he  could  extricate  his  brigade  from  the  streets 
and  by-lanes  of  the  town,  it  would  soon  be  destroyed 
piecemeal.  He  had  at  first  been  dazed  and  mystified 
by  the    suddenness  and  multiplicity    of   the  American 

1 "  The  attack  on  Trenton  was  a  most  horrid  scene  to  the  poor 
inhabitants.  War,  my  Lucy,  is  not  a  humane  trade."  General  Knox  to 
his  wife  ;    January  2,  1777. 

2  "The  number  of  men  who  succeeded  in  escaping  plainly  shows 
what  the  rest  could  have  done  if  the  officers  remaining  had  done  their 
duty,  and  not  put  aside  the  obligations  they  were  under  to  me,  to  the  honour 
of  my  troops,  and  to  their  own  reputation."  Letter  of  April  1777,  from 
the  Landgrave   of  Hesse  Cassel  to  Lieutenant  General  von  Knyphausen. 


TRENTON  lOg 

attacks;  but  he  now  recovered  his  presence  of  mind, 
and  saw  his  course  plain  before  him.  Having  with- 
drawn the  Rail  and  Von  Lossberg  regiments  to  the  open 
ground  east  of  the  village,  he  ordered  them  to  face 
about,  and  advance  in  extended  line  against  what  had 
now  become  the  American  position.  Their  ranks  were 
re-formed;  their  colours  were  displayed  conspicuously 
in  the  centre  of  each  battalion  ;  and  the  band  struck 
up  a  tune.  The  moment  had  arrived  for  trying  the 
efficacy  of  that  assault  with  the  bayonet  which  was  the 
gallant  veteran's  ideal  of  warfare.  It  was  all  in  vain. 
His  own  regiment  would  not  face  the  rifles.  The 
Von  Lossbergs,  —  who  alone  of  the  Hessians  on  that  day 
did  well,  or  even  respectably,  —  lost  several  officers  and 
thirty  men,  without  anywhere  getting  into  thrusting 
distance  of  an  enemy.  Rail  fell  from  his  horse  with 
two  frightful  wounds ;  and  his  troops  abandoned  the 
fray,  and  retired  to  an  apple-orchard  just  beyond  the 
Friends'  Meeting  House  on  the  eastern  edge  of 
the  village.  The  surviving  field-officers  recognised  that 
all  was  over.  Their  men  would  not  go  forward  ;  and  the 
means  for  standing  successfully  on  the  defensive  were 
altogether  wanting.  Wet  had  spoiled  the  muskets  ;  and 
towards  the  close  of  the  affair  there  were  a  great  many 
more  misfires  than  explosions.  The  braver  soldiers 
were  seen  chipping  away  at  their  flints  amid  a  shower 
of  bullets,  and  then  pulling  their  triggers  again  and 
again  without  effect.  Artillery,  in  those  days,  was  the 
proper  weapon  for  bad  weather ;  but  the  German 
cannon  had  all  been  captured  or  disabled.  Washington, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  provided  himself  with  field- 
pieces  in  double  the  ordinary  proportion  to  the  num- 
bers of  his  infantry ;  and  he  had  committed  them  to 
the  charge  of  an  officer  who  utilised  them  to  the  very 
utmost.  Colonel  Knox,  who  had  thriven  in  business  by 
industry  and  assiduity,  laid  claim  to  no  other  qualities 
in  his  capacity  of  an  artilleryman  ;  ^  and  he  took  good 

1  "  Will  it  give  you  satisfaction  or  pleasure  in  being  informed  that  the 
Congress  have  created  me  a  general   officer,  with   the   entire  command 


no  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

care  at  Trenton  that  no  man  in  his  command  should  be 
idle,  and  no  gun-muzzle  silent,  as  long  as  any  profitable 
work  remained  to  be  executed. 

Knox  hurried  up  his  batteries  from  the  point  where 
they  had  been  stationed  at  the  commencement  of  the 
action,  and  cannonaded  the  Hessians,  who  shielded 
themselves,  as  best  they  could,  among  the  trees  of  the 
orchard.  Greene  had  kept  in  reserve  two  entire  bri- 
gades, posted  on  his  extreme  left,  in  express  view  of 
some  such  contingency  as  now  occurred ;  and  they 
moved  forward  in  serried  ranks,  with  loaded  arms,  eager 
to  take  their  part  in  the  victory.  The  Germans  saw 
themselves  threatened  by  a  semicircle  of  field-guns ; 
while  a  thousand  fresh  and  untouched  troops  of  the 
Continental  line  were  bearing  down  upon  them  within  a 
distance  of  sixty  paces.  The  American  infantry  forbore 
from  shooting,  and  the  artillery-fire  ceased  ;  for  both 
parties  knew  that  the  fight  was  ended,  and  neither  of 
them  desired  that  the  butchery  should  begin.  The 
Hessian  standards  were  lowered ;  the  muskets  were 
grounded;  "and  the  officers  placed  their  hats  on  the 
points  of  their  swords,  and  held  them  up  in  token  of 
submission."  ^  Some  few  hundred  yards  away  to  the 
southward  the  Von  Knyphausen  regiment  was  helplessly 
recoiling  from  the  conflict  in  quest  of  safety.  Major 
von  Dechow,  mortally  hurt,  had  fallen  into  American 
hands ;  and  his  senior  captain  attempted  to  escape, 
with  the  remnant  of  his  command,  by  the  bridge  over  the 
Assunpink  Creek.  If  the  roads  which  led  to  the  ferries 
had  been  properly  patrolled  by  cavalry,  the  whole  garri- 
son, forewarned  in  time,  might  have  made  good  their 
retreat  across  that  bridge  long  before  Washington  had 
arrived  within  several  miles  of  the  town.  It  was  now 
too  late  ;  for  Sullivan,  who  never  in  his  life  made  a  fin,er 
figure  than  on  that  morning,  had  already  secured  the 

of  the  artillery  ?     If  so,  I  shall  be  happy.     People   are   more   lavish    in 
their  praises  of  my  poor   endeavours  than    they   deserve.     All  the  merit 
I  can  claim  is  industry."     General  Knox  to  his  wife  ;   January  2,  1777. 
^  Stryker's  Trenioyi  and  Princeton. 


TRENTON  1 1 1 

pass  with  infantry  and  cannon.  Two  field-pieces,  which 
the  Von  Knyphausens  dragged  along  with  them,  sank  in 
the  mud,  and  were  abandoned  to  the  advancing  enemy. 
The  march  of  the  column  was  obstructed  by  a  train  of 
waggons,  piled  up  with  plunder,  which  had  been 
brought  thus  far,  but  no  further,  on  the  way  to  Ger- 
many ;  and  a  throng  of  camp-followers,  male  and 
female,  —  shrieking,  and  rushing  to  and  fro  as  the  shot 
flew  about  them,  —  spread  panic  and  disorder  in  the 
ranks.  Under  cover  of  the  thick  underbrush  that 
fringed  the  stream  some  captains  and  lieutenants,  with 
a  few  hardy  privates,  endeavoured  to  discover  a  passage 
through  the  creek ;  sounding  the  bottom  with  their 
spontoons,  and  wading  up  to  their  necks  in  the  ice-cold 
water.  The  stoutest  fellows  swam  across  to  freedom  ; 
but  others  were  drowned ;  and  Sullivan's  leading  bri- 
gade, active  in  pursuit,  was  now  almost  within  pistol-shot. 
The  Germans  were  called  upon  to  surrender  at  discre- 
tion ;  and,  after  a  protracted  parley,  they  consented  to 
obey.  As  the  Hessian  regiment  threw  down  their  fire- 
locks, "the  patriot  troops  tossed  their  hats  in  the  air; 
a  great  shout  resounded  through  the  village,  and  the 
battle  of  Trenton  was  closed."^ 

Rail's  forces,  when  the  affair  commenced,  had  been 
sixteen    hundred   strong.^      Their  killed   and  wounded 

^  Stryker's   Trenton  and  Princeton. 

Colonel  Knox  gave  his  wife  an  excellent  account  of  the  affair  in  brief, 
interspersed  with  touches  of  affection  not  out  of  place  even  in  such  a 
story.  "  About  half  a  mile  from  the  town,"  he  wrote,  "  was  an  advanced 
guard  on  each  road,  consisting  of  a  captain's  guard.  These  we  forced, 
and  entered  the  town  with  them  pell-mell  ;  and  here  succeeded  a  scene 
of  war  of  which  I  had  often  conceived,  but  never  saw  before.  The  hurry, 
fright,  and  confusion  of  the  enemy  was  not  unlike  that  which  will  he 
when  the  last  trump  shall  sound.  They  endeavoured  to  form  in  the 
streets,  the  head  of  which  we  had  previously  the  possession  of  with 
cannon  and  howitzers.  These,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  cleared  the 
streets.  The  backs  of  the  houses  were  resorted  to  for  shelter.  These 
proved  ineffectual.  The  musketry  soon  dislodged  them.  Finally  they 
were  driven  through  the  town  into  the  open  ])lains  beyond." 

^  P'ach  of  the  three  line  regiments  contained  on  an  average  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty  men  and  ofilcers  ;  and  liiere  were,  in  addition,  the  Chas- 
si.urs,  the  detachment  of  artillery,  and  some  British  dragoons. 


112  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

were  above  a  hundred,  of  whom  two-thirds  belonged  to 
the  Von  Lossberg  regiment.  The  Americans  captured 
six  field-pieces ;  a  thousand  fine  muskets  ;  forty  sound 
horses;  fifteen  standards;  twelve  brass-barrel  drums, 
and  all  the  clarionets  and  hautboys,  together  with  forty 
hogsheads  of  rum.  Among  the  prisoners  were  thirty 
regimental  officers,  ninety-two  Sergeants,  twenty-nine 
musicians,  and  seven  hundred  and  forty  privates ;  as 
well  as  a  Provost  Marshal,  whose  office  must  of  late 
have  been  a  sinecure,  for  the  buildings  occupied  by  the 
Germans  contained  a  large  assortment  of  miscellaneous 
property  which  had  not  been  honestly  come  by.  Wash- 
ington gave  directions  that  the  casks  of  rum  should  at 
once  be  staved  in,  and  the  liquor  emptied  on  the  ground  ; 
and  he  invited  the  inhabitants  of  New  Jersey  to  reclaim 
any  goods  of  which  they  had  been  despoiled.  Those 
farmers  from  Hopewell  Township,  who  had  come  to  his 
assistance  empty-handed,  might  now  carry  back  with 
them  their  fireplaces  and  kitchen-furniture  to  help  their 
wives  and  children  through  what  remained  of  the  sav- 
age winter.  The  Hessians,  in  their  hour  of  humiliation, 
made  a  resplendent  show.  Their  regimental  flags  were 
of  white  silk,  worked  in  gold  with  haughty  devices  to 
which  the  occasion  lent  an  ironical  meaning.^  The 
soldiers  were  described  by  an  eye-witness  as  hearty- 
looking  and  well-clad,  with  large  knapsacks,  and  spat- 
terdashes on  their  legs.  The  Rail  battalion  in  dark 
blue,  the  Von  Lossbergs  in  scarlet,  the  Von  Knyp- 
hausens  in  neat  and  seemly  black,  and  the  artillerymen 
in  blue  coats  with  crimson  lapels  and  white  borders, 
were  all  in  singular  contrast  to  the  dingy  threadbare 
summer   clothing,    and    naked   feet,    of    their   captors. 

1  The  Von  Lossberg  banner  bore  the  words  "  Pro  Principe  et  PatriS  ;  " 
and  some  Americans  knew  enough  Latin  to  wonder  what  were  the  patri- 
otic interests  which  had  brought  Hessians  to  fight  on  the  Delaware. 
Another  regiment,  which  had  shown  no  appetite  for  battle,  displayed  a 
Lion  rampant,  surmounted  by  the  motto  "  Nescit  Pericula."  The  cap- 
tured standards  are  reported  as  fifteen  in  General  von  Heister's  official 
despatch  to  the  Prince  of  Hesse.  The  general  probably  included  the 
guidons  of  companies  as  well  as  the  regimental  flags. 


TRENTON  1 1 3 

Washington  gathered  up  his  prizes ;  collected  his 
troops ;  and  issued  orders  to  start  forthwith  upon  the 
homeward  journey.  Before  his  departure,  accompanied 
by  General  Greene,  he  waited  upon  Colonel  Rail ;  took 
his  parole  of  honour,  which  was  a  sad  and  very  super- 
fluous ceremony ;  spoke  to  him  kindly  and  most  respect- 
fully ;  and  assured  him,  in  reply  to  his  anxious  request, 
that  the  prisoners  should  be  humanely  and  considerately 
treated.  Rail  did  not  survive  the  morrow ;  and  Von 
Dechow  died  within  a  few  hours  of  his  chief.  Wash- 
ington's troops  reached  the  ferry,  where  they  had  left 
their  vessels,  in  time  to  commence  the  return  passage 
over  the  Delaware  before  nightfall.  The  weather  had 
not  mended.  A  boatful  of  German  officers  came  very 
near  being  swamped  in  the  freezing  current ;  and  tradi- 
tion relates  that  three  Americans  died  outright  of  cold. 
The  victors  arrived  at  their  respective  quarters  dropping 
with  sleep, ^  having  marched  and  fought  continuously  for 
six-and-thirty,  forty,  and  in  some  cases  for  fifty,  hours. 
That  was  a  long  and  a  severe  ordeal ;  and  yet  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  so  small  a  number  of  men  ever 
employed  so  short  a  space  of  time  with  greater  and 
more  lasting  results  upon  the  history  of  the  world. 
One  circumstance  in  the  affair  was  strange  almost  to 

1  The  good  people  of  the  house,  in  which  a  young  New  England  cap- 
tain lodged,  had  prepared  for  him  a  large  dish  of  hasty  pudding  ;  but  he 
fell  asleep  over  his  supper,  and  awoke  next  morning  with  the  spoon  still  in 
his  hand. 

David  How  was  at  Trenton  ;  and  his  journal  represents  that  famous 
passage  of  arms  under  its  most  elementary  aspects, 

"  Dec.  24.  We  have  ben  Drawing  Cateridges  And  provisions  in  order 
for  a  Scout. 

"25.  This  Day  at  12  a  Clock  we  Marched  Down  the  River  about  12 
miles.  In  the  Night  we  Crossed  the  River  DuUerway  With  a  large  Body 
of  men  And  Field  Pieces. 

"  26.  This  morning  at  4  a  Clock  we  set  off  with  our  Field  pieces  and 
Marched  8  miles  to  Trenton  whare  we  ware  Atacked  by  a  Number  of  Hush- 
ing and  we  Toock  1000  of  them  besides  killed  Some.  Then  we  marched 
back  and  got  to  the  River  at  Night  and  got  over  all  the  Hushing. 

"  27.  This  morning  we  Crossed  the  River  and  come  to  our  Camp  at 
Noon. 

"  28.  This  Day  we  have  ben  washing  Our  things." 

V(JL.  111.  I 


114  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

a  miracle.  The  incidents  at  Trenton  have  been  described 
by  German  military  writers  in  narratives  marked  exter- 
nally by  the  same  professional  minuteness  and  fidelity 
which  characterise  the  Official  Accounts  of  recent  wars 
issued,  in  our  own  generation,  by  the  Staff  Department 
at  Berlin.  These  narratives  solemnly  and  specifically 
report  how  in  the  battle  of  Trenton  this  regiment  de- 
ployed, and  advanced  firing ;  and  how  that  regiment 
retired  to  take  up  a  less  exposed  position  ;  and  how  one 
captain  or  another,  at  such  a  minute  in  such  an  hour, 
rallied  his  company,  and  brought  it  once  more  into 
action,  at  the  corner  of  a  certain  street.  And  in  the 
end  we  learn  that,  as  the  net  result  of  all  those  pro- 
longed and  complicated  operations,  not  a  single  Ameri- 
can was  killed  in  the  course  of  the  whole  engagement. 
Two  privates  were  wounded,  and  two  officers ;  of  whom 
the  more  severely  hurt  was  alive,  and  in  the  White 
House,  forty-eight  years  afterwards.  The  watchword 
"  Victory  or  Death "  proved  to  be,  for  Washington's 
followers,  a  literal,  an  exact,  and,  (in  the  ultimate  event,) 
a  most  cheerful  and  satisfactory  alternative.  Excuses 
were  put  forward  by  some  among  the  vanquished  who 
were  not  wise  enough  to  leave  ill  alone.  They  talked 
of  the  Germans  as  out-numbered ;  and  undoubtedly 
Washington  had  eight  hundred  more  men  than  Rail ; 
but,  as  long  as  the  adversaries  were  still  at  grips,  and 
while  the  possession  of  Trenton  was  being  disputed 
within  the  confines  of  Trenton  itself,  the  town  contained 
at  least  as  many  Hessians  as  Americans.  The  rain,  (it 
was  further  alleged,)  fell  so  heavily  that  the  German 
muskets  would  not  go  off.  It  cannot,  however,  be  for- 
gotten that  Washington's  men,  and  their  firelocks  like- 
wise, had  for  nine  consecutive  hours  been  exposed  to  a 
constant  downpour  without  any  protection  whatsoever ; 
while  Rail's  troops  came  forth  to  battle  from  weather- 
tight  quarters,  as  warm  as  rooms  are  kept  by  soldiers 
when  they  are  burning  fuel  which  belongs  to  other 
people. 

The  explanation,  of  what  otherwise  is  inexplicable, 


TRENTON  1 1  5 

rests  not  on  military  or  material,  but  on  moral,  grounds. 
Washington,  in  a  General  Order  of  congratulation  ad- 
dressed to  his  soldiers,  observed  that  he  had  previously 
been  in  many  actions,  but  always  had  perceived  some 
misbehaviour  in  some  individuals.  At  Trenton,  how- 
ever, he  had  seen  none.  Too  much  praise,  (a  contem- 
porary remarked,)  could  not  be  given  to  the  Continental 
troops.  "  His  Excellency  was  pleased  at  their  un- 
daunted courage.  Not  a  soul  was  found  skulking ;  but 
all  were  fierce  for  battle."  ^  Americans  were  fierce  for 
battle,  because  they  understood  what  the  battle  was 
about;  but  in  the  opposite  ranks  there  was  a  great  lack 
of  knowledge,  and  very  little  ardour.  The  Germans 
who  made  such  a  poor  affair  of  street-fighting  in  Tren- 
ton were  not  born  less  brave  than  those  countrymen  of 
theirs  who  attacked  the  villages  in  front  of  Lutzen  in 
1813,  and  who  in  181 5  defended  Ligny  and  St.  Amand 
with  the  extreme  of  heroism.  But  Blucher's  infantry 
were  contending  for  their  fatherland  ;  whereas  the  dull- 
est fusilier  in  Rail's  regiments,  beneath  all  the  pipe-clay 
of  his  cross-belts,  felt  an  uneasy  consciousness  that  he 
was  enlisted  on  what,  likely  enough,  was  the  wrong  side 
of  a  dispute  that  did  not  in  any  way  concern  himself  or 
his  nation.  The  Hessian  officers  never  attempted  to 
justify  their  presence  under  arms  in  New  Jersey  by  any 
public  or  patriotic  motive.  They  admitted  quite  frankly, 
in  the  hearing  of  Lord  Stirling,  that  they  had  not  con- 
ceived it  their  duty  to  inquire  which  of  the  two  parties 
in  the  American  controversy  was  right.  By  far  the 
most  ably  reasoned  defence  of  German  interference  in 
the  war  between  Britain  and  her  colonies  is  given  in  a 
letter  of  the  Freiherr  von  Gemmingen,  a  Minister  to  the 
Margrave  of  Anspach.  "  The  Margrave,"  this  states- 
man wrote,  "  is  determined  to  set  his  affairs  in  order, 
and  to  pay  all  his  own  debts,  and  those  of  his  prede- 
cessors ;  so  the  good  that  may  come  out  of  such  a  treaty 
of  subsidy  will  far  outweigh  the  hatefulncss  of  the  busi- 
ness. .  .  .     The  matter  will  naturally  be  looked  on  in 

*  American  Archives  for  December  1776. 

I  2 


Il6  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  most  unfavourable  light  by  people  who  do  not  un- 
derstand an  affair  of  State  as  a  whole.  But  as  soon 
as  such  people  see  foreign  money  flowing  into  our  poor 
country,  —  as  soon  as  they  see  us  paying  its  debts  with 
the  means  that  come  pouring  in, — they  will  acknow- 
ledge that  the  troops,  whose  business  is  to  fight  the 
enemies  of  the  state,  have  conquered  our  worst  enemy, 
namely  our  debts.  Even  the  lowest  soldier  shipped  to 
America  will  come  back  with  his  savings,  and  be  proud 
to  have  worked  for  his  country  and  for  his  own  advan- 
tage." ^  In  plain  words,  Anspachers,  and  Waldeckers, 
and  Hessians  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  order  to  fill  the 
empty  treasuries  of  their  rulers,  and  to  draw  increased 
pay  and  allowances  for  themselves ;  and  the  calamities 
which  there  befell  them  were  accepted  by  public-minded 
and  self-respecting  men,  all  the  world  over,  with  feel- 
ings ranging  between  lively  satisfaction  and  contemptu- 
ous indifference. 

In  England  the  Hessians  met  with  the  same  sort  of 
sympathy  as  a  crowd  in  a  market-place,  where  a  fair 
stand-up  fight  is  going  on,  would  accord  to  a  stranger 
who  took  five  shillings  to  trip  up  one  of  the  combatants, 
and  got  knocked  down  for  his  pains.  Our  bluff  coun- 
trymen in  those  days  had  a  strong  prejudice  against 
foreigners,  more  especially  foreigners  who  lived  on 
English  money ;  and  they  loved  George  the  Third's 
German  mercenaries  as  little  as  their  grandfathers  had 
liked  and  revered  George  the  First's  German  mistresses. 
On  the  continent  of  Europe,  —  outside  the  precincts  of 
those  petty  Courts  which  had  habitually  and  tradition- 
ally made  a  profit  by  selling  their  subjects  to  the  War 
Offices  of  neighbouring  powers,^  —  national  opinion  had 
been  deeply  and  sincerely  outraged  by  the  revival  of 
that  hateful  traffic,  on  a  vast  scale,  for  the  prosecution 

1  This  letter  is  quoted  in  the  second  chapter  of  Mr.  Lowell's  Hessians. 

2  In  1782  a  pamphlet,  attributed  to  a  Minister  of  the  Landgrave  of 
Hesse,  was  published  in  French  and  German.  The  writer  there  stated, 
by  way  of  defence  for  his  royal  patron,  that  the  letting-out  of  Hessians  for 
foreign  service,  so  far  from  being  an  innovation,  was  the  tenth  occasion 
of  the  kind  since  the  beginning  of  the  century. 


TRENTOM  117 

of  a  policy  alien  to  every  legitimate  European  interest. 
The  poet  Schiller,  before  the  war  closed,  gave  forcible 
expression  to  the  shame  and  indignation  which  filled 
every  true  German  heart ;  and  the  drama  in  which  he 
denounced  and  satirised  royal  dealers  in  human  life,  — 
with  such  point  and  vigour  that  friends  to  whom  he 
showed  the  piece  had  not  dared  confess  to  having  read 
it  in  private,  —  when  brought  openly  upon  the  stage  was 
acted  amid  a  tumult  of  applause. 

Some  dim  perception  of  the  disgust  and  humiliation, 
which  were  inspired  in  all  honest  men  by  the  cruel  and 
ignoble  system,  gradually  filtered  down  to  the  unfor- 
tunate creatures  who  were  the  victims  of  it ;  and  the 
news  from  Trenton,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  made  the 
trade  of  crimping  none  the  easier.  In  March  1777  two 
regiments  from  Anspach  and  Bayreuth  were  put  into 
boats  at  Ochsenfurth,  —  a  little  walled  town  which  then 
belonged  to  the  Bishop  of  Wiirtzburg,  —  for  water- 
carriage  down  the  Main  and  the  Rhine  to  a  port  of 
embarkation  in  Holland.  This  flock  of  country  lads, 
(we  are  informed,)  were  shivering  with  cold,  and  sick- 
ened by  the  smell  of  the  closely  packed  barges  which, 
in  their  simplicity,  they  thought  were  to  carry  them, 
without  change  of  ship,  across  the  ocean  to  America. 
They  broke  out  into  mutiny,  "  a  poor  helpless  mutiny, 
without  a  plan,  without  a  leader.  At  daybreak  some  of 
the  soldiers  of  the  Anspach  regiment,  whose  boat  was 
near  the  bank,  laid  a  plank  to  the  shore,  and  walked 
over  it.  They  then  dragged  other  boats  to  land ;  and 
in  an  hour  the  miserable  crowd  of  cold  and  hungry  men 
was  on  shore,  storming  with  anger,  and  refusing  to  yield 
to  the  threats  and  promises  of  its  officers."^  Some 
chasseurs  were  ordered  to  fire  upon  the  deserters  from 
the  surrounding  hills ;  and  on  this  occasion  they  shot 
more  accurately  than  when  they  confronted  a  skirmish- 
line  of  American  riflemen.  The  Bishop  of  Wiirtzburg 
sent  hussars  and  dragoons  to  quell  the  riot,  and  was 
subsequently  thanked  by  Lord  North's  government  for 

1  Lowxll's //t-wjawj;  chapter  v.     Stephan  Popp's/o«r«rt//   1777-1783. 


Il8  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

his  friendly  and  spirited  conduct.  The  Margrave  of 
Anspach  himself,  who  had  been  fetched  in  hot  haste, 
accompanied  the  flotilla  down  the  rivers,  and  never  lost 
sight  of  the  goods  which  he  had  undertaken  to  deliver 
until  they  were  duly  consigned  on  board  the  British 
transports.  Then,  with  conscience  clear  and  pocket 
well  lined,  he  started  gaily  on  a  trip  to  Paris,  having 
already  arranged  for  sending  another  batch  of  recruits 
down  stream  in  the  course  of  that  autumn.  He  had 
written  to  his  uncle,  —  who  was  no  less  than  Frederic 
the  Great,  —  asking  that  these  troops  might  be  permit- 
ted to  pass  through  a  corner  of  the  Prussian  dominions  ; 
but  he  esteemed  the  request  a  mere  formality,  and  trav- 
elled off  to  France  without  waiting  for  an  answer. 
Frederic  was  not  a  bishop ;  and,  in  language  which  was 
to  his  credit  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  German  ruler,  he 
returned  his  nephew  a  flat  refusal. ^  The  princes  whose 
capitals  lay  to  the  south  of  Magdeburg  and  Berlin  were 
thenceforward  reduced  to  despatch  their  contingents  by 
a  circuitous  route,  which  traversed  several  independent 
States,  and  the  territories  of  some  free  cities.  The  com- 
mander of  the  Anhalt  Zerbst  regiment,  in  particular, 
found  it  almost  impossible  to  bring  his  recruits  along. 
Local  sympathy  was  everywhere  excited,  and  actively 
exerted,  on  behalf  of  the  youths  who  filed  through  town 
and  village  in  a  weary  woebegone  procession  ;  and,  be- 
fore the  seacoast  came  in  view,  three  out  of  every  eight 
had  made  good  their  escape  from  servitude. 

The  victory  at  Trenton  was  hailed  with  joy  and 
triumph  by  the  great  majority  of  Americans,  who  had 
been  profoundly  incensed  against  the  foreign  soldiers  of 
the  Crown.     They  reproached  them,  (wrote  a  British 

^  *'  Monsieur  my  Nephew  ! 

"I  own  to  your  Most  Serene  Highness  that  I  never  think  of  the  present 
war  in  America  without  being  struck  by  the  eagerness  of  some  German 
princes  to  sacrifice  their  troops  in  a  quarrel  which  does  not  concern  them. 
My  astonishment  increases  when  I  remember  in  ancient  history  the  wise 
and  general  aversion  of  our  ancestors  to  wasting  German  blood  for  the 
defence  of  foreign  rights,  which  even  became  a  law  in  the  German  state." 

So  the  letter  began  ;  and  the  rest  was  of  a  piece. 


TRENTON  119 

historian,)  with  the  highest  degree  of  moral  turpitude 
for  quitting  their  homes  in  the  Old  World  to  butcher  a 
people  in  the  New  World  from  whom  they  never  had 
received  the  smallest  injury ;  but  who,  on  the  contrary, 
had  for  a  century  past  afforded  an  asylum  to  their 
harassed  and  oppressed  countrymen,  when  they  fled 
across  the  seas  in  multitudes  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a 
liberty  most  generously  held  out  to  them.^  When  it 
became  known  that  Great  Britain  was  hiring  Hessians 
and  Brunswickers  to  suppress  freedom  in  her  colonies, 
the  Americans  loudly  condemned  what  they  regarded 
as  German  ingratitude ;  and  their  anger  had  since  then 
been  exacerbated  by  the  plunder  and  devastation  of 
New  Jersey.  Washington's  soldiers,  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  Delaware,  had  waited  in  a  state  of  white 
rage  for  an  opportunity  to  get  at  the  throats  of  those 
who  had  perpetrated  the  outrages ;  but,  when  the  fight 
ended,  and  the  delinquents  were  at  their  mercy,  their 
wrath  cooled  down,  and  their  good  nature  reasserted 
itself  in  all  its  plenitude.  Their  commander  set  the 
example  of  generosity.  Going  even  beyond  the  promise 
which  he  had  given  to  his  dying  foe,  Washington  ordered 
that  the  portmanteaus  of  the  Hessian  officers,  and  the 
knapsacks  of  the  soldiers,  should  be  made  over  to  them 
unsearched  and  unopened.  As  soon  as  a  dinner  could 
be  cooked,  he  entertained  the  colonels  and  majors  at  his 
quarters ;  while  captains  and  lieutenants  were  turned 
over  to  the  care  of  Lord  Stirling.  Retaining  a  pleasant 
recollection  of  General  von  Heister's  courtesy  when  he 
himself  had  been  a  prisoner  after  the  battle  of  Long 
Island,  Stirling  surpassed  his  own  reputation  as  a 
bountiful  host,  and  promptly  repressed  a  sour-visaged 
Lutheran  pastor  from  Hanover  who  thought  fit  to 
harangue  the  company,  in  their  own  tongue,  about  the 

1  "History  of  Europe"  in  the  Annual  Register  for  1777;  chapter  i. 
That  argument  went  strongly  home  to  the  I'ennsylvanian  emigrants  of 
German  descent  ;  upon  whom  the  Revolution,  as  the  earliest  of  its  boons, 
had  conferred  the  enjoyment  of  full  political  freedom  ;  and  who  were, 
almost  to  a  man,  devoted  adherents  of  the  popular  party. 


I20  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

iniquities  of  George  the  Third,  and  the  justice  of  the 
American  case  as  put  forward  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.^  After  having  given  their  parole,  the 
Hessian  officers  were  conveyed  to  Philadelphia  in  com- 
fortable equipages,  were  driven  to  the  sign  of  The 
Indian  Queen,  and  there  set  down  to  "  a  grand  supper, 
with  plenty  of  punch  and  wine,  at  the  expense  of  Con- 
gress." These  official  attentions  were  liberally  supple- 
mented by  private  hospitality  in  the  cities  which  they 
successively  visited.  They  respectfully  admired  the 
beauty,  the  elegance,  and  the  joyous  unembarrassed 
bearing  of  Virginian  ladies ;  and  some  of  them  noted 
with  satisfaction  that  their  own  musical  accomplish- 
ments, which  were  not  rated  highly  in  Germany,  pro- 
cured them  much  social  consideration  in  America.^ 

The  rank  and  file  of  Rail's  brigade  acquired  the  good 
will  of  the  captors  by  their  docility,  their  mild  and  even 
tempers,  and  their  freedom  from  political  bitterness,  — 
a  virtue  which  was  based  on  the  solid  foundation  of 
absolute  and  entire  political  ignorance.  They  had  been 
poor  soldiers  at  Trenton ;  but  they  made  most  excellent 
prisoners.  When  they  were  passed  southwards  across 
the  Pennsylvanian  border,  a  difficulty  occurred  about 
the  provision  of  an  escort ;  and  the  officer  in  'command 
trusted  the  Hessians  to  find  their  own  way  up  the 
Shenandoah  valley  by  themselves.  Three  stages  on- 
wards, and  at  the  appointed  hour,  each  one  answered  to 

^  "  I  had  the  honour,"  (so  Stirling  told  Governor  Livingston,)  "  to 
make  two  regiments  of  them  surrender  prisoners  of  war,  and  to  treat 
them  in  such  a  style  as  will  make  the  rest  of  them  more  willing  to 
surrender  than  to  fight." 

^  At  Fredericksburg  sixteen  ladies  organised  a  surprise  party,  which 
visited  the  Hessian  officers  at  their  quarters,  and  stayed  from  half  past 
three  till  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  Germans  regaled  their  guests,  — 
who  included  Washington's  niece  and  his  sister, — with  coffee,  chocolate, 
cakes,  claret,  and  even  with  tea  ;  and  gave  them  an  entertainment  of 
vocal  and  instrumental  music.  "  In  Europe,"  said  Wiederhold,  "  we 
should  not  have  got  much  honour  ;  but  here  we  passed  for  masters." 
Such  amenities,  in  time  of  war,  have  often  been  deprecated  on  the  ground 
that  women  should  not  consort  with  those  who  have  slain  their  country- 
men in  battle.  American  ladies  probably  held  that  that  consideration  did 
not  apply  in  the  case  of  the  Hessians  who  fought  at  Trenton. 


TRENTON  121 

his  name  in  the  roll-call,  and  was  rewarded  with 
a  glass  of  brandy.  They  were  scattered  in  detach- 
ments among  the  townships  on  either  bank  of  the 
Potomac,  where  they  lived  peaceable  and  contented, 
with  no  desire  whatever  to  go  back  to  the  war,  and  not 
impatient  even  for  their  return  to  Germany.  Their 
minds  were  at  ease;  for  their  pay  was  running  up  on 
the  books  of  the  British  War  Office;  and,  as  far  as 
they  were  concerned,  that  was  the  one  and  only  object 
for  which  they  had  come  to  America.  They  were  on 
friendly  and  familiar  terms  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  assisting  them  in  their  industries,  sharing  their 
festivities,  and  most  certainly  abstaining  from  all  obtru- 
sive manifestations  of  Tory  sentiment.  Those  among 
them  who  had  an  aptitude  for  mechanics  were  allowed 
to  take  service  with  an  ironmaster  of  Hessian  birth  who 
owned  a  large  forge  and  foundry  in  New  Jersey,  where 
they  helped  to  make  gun-carriages  and  cannon-balls  for 
General  Washington's  artillery.  Colonel  Rail's  bands- 
men remained  in  Philadelphia,  and  they  must  have 
got  their  clarionets  and  hautboys  back ;  for  they  are 
stated  to  have  performed  at  the  Fourth  of  July  cele- 
bration which  followed  six  months  after  the  date  of 
Trenton. 

Americans  were  the  less  vindictive  in  their  feeling 
towards  the  Hessians  because  they  had  ceased  to  be 
afraid  of  them.  The  Seven  Years'  War  had  exalted  to 
a  very  high  point  the  military  reputation  of  those  who 
had  been  engaged  in  it;  and  it  was  currently  believed 
that  German  strategists  and  tacticians  possessed  certain 
tricks  of  their  trade  which  lay  beyond  the  reach  of 
citizen  soldiers.  "  Our  officers,"  John  Adams  wrote, 
"do  not  seem  sufficiently  sensible  of  the  importance  of 
an  observation  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  that  stratagern, 
ambuscade,  and  ambush  are  the  sublimest  chapters  in 
the  art  of  war.  Regular  forces  are  never  surprised. 
They  are  masters  of  rules  for  guarding  themselves  in 
every  situation  and  contingency.  The  old  officers  among 
them  are  full  of   resources,  wiles,  artifices,  and  strata- 


122  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

gems,  to  deceive,  decoy,  and  over-reach  their  ad  versa- 
ries."^  That  exaggerated  estimate  of  German  craft 
and  subtlety  did  not  survive  Trenton.  It  thenceforward 
was  evident  that  Hessian  and  Hanoverian  colonels, — 
without  a  Prince  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick,  or  a  Prince 
Henry  of  Prussia,  to  command  them,  and  when  opposed 
to  an  Anglo-Saxon  enemy,  —  were  not  all  of  them  so 
many  MoUendorfs  and  Seidlitzes.  The  German  gren- 
adier had  hitherto  been  a  terrible  bugbear  in  the 
imagination  of  ordinary  Americans.  Coarse  engravings 
had  been  widely  circulated  representing  him  with  long 
mustachios,  an  enormous  pigtail,  and  a  head-dress 
closely  resembling  an  episcopal  mitre,  cocked  forward 
at  a  minatory  angle  over  his  beetUng  brows ;  and  the 
vast  panoply  of  war,  which  encumbered  his  person  on 
march  and  in  action,  was  popularly  regarded  as  an  indi- 
cation of  his  superhuman  strength.  After  the  close  of 
the  campaign,  however,  the  employers,  as  well  as  the 
antagonists,  of  the  German  mercenary  had  begun  to 
perceive  that  the  secret  of  being  formidable  in  battle 
depends  not  on  looking  ferocious,  but  on  aiming  cor- 
rectly. That  all-important  truth  at  last  penetrated  the 
convictions  of  the  British  War  Office.  When  it  was 
ascertained  that  at  Fort  Washington,  where  they  be- 
haved well,  the  Hessians  had  killed  very  few  Americans, 
—  and  that  at  Trenton,  where  they  behaved  ill,  they 
had  killed  no  Americans  at  all,  —  the  authorities  in 
Whitehall  directed  their  agents  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe  to  enrol  recruits,  if  such  could  be  found,  who 
knew  something  about  the  use  of  the  musket  which 
they  carried.  The  Americans,  on  their  part,  who  were 
a  practical  people,  had  mastered  the  fact  that  they 
ran  no  great  danger  to  Hfe  or  limb  even  within  a  few 
score  yards  of  the  Hessian  muzzles.  They  still  treated 
with  respect  a  foreign  regiment,  when  it  stood  in  the 
line  of  battle,  flanked  and  backed  by  an  array  of  British 
bayonets.  But,  —  whether  they  were  Continental  regu- 
lars, or  minute-men,  or  armed  farmers  in  their  shirt- 
1  John  Adams  to  William  Tudor  ;  Philadelphia,  August  29,  1776. 


TRENTON  123 

sleeves,  —  they  advanced  to  the  attack,  wherever  they 
got  a  German  force  by  itself,  in  disdainful  and  assured 
anticipation  of  an  easy  victory. 

The  ruler  of  Hesse  Cassel  was  deeply  mortified.  He 
could  entertain  no  illusion  as  to  the  conduct  of  his 
soldiers.  Under  the  treaties  made  with  the  British 
Government  the  German  princes  were  paid  a  fixed 
sum  for  each  of  their  subjects  who  was  killed  out- 
right, while  three  wounded  men  reckoned  as  one  dead ;  ^ 
and  the  Landgrave,  therefore,  needed  only  to  glance  at 
the  credit  side  of  his  account-books  in  order  to  learn  that 
his  troops  had  laid  down  their  arms  after  losing  only  six 
per  cent,  of  their  strength  in  battle.  He  recalled  Gen- 
eral von  Heister;  and  he  ordered  the  officer  next  in  com- 
mand not  to  rest  until  a  long  series  of  brave  acts 
had  expunged  the  memory  of  a  most  unfortunate  affair.^ 
The  guilty  regiments,  (so  their  sovereign  declared,) 
should  never  receive  any  flags  again  until  the  day 
when  they  captured  from  the  enemy  as  many  standards 
as  they  had  surrendered  in  such  a  disgraceful  manner. 

That  day  never  came.  In  the  course  of  the  succeed- 
ing autumn  Colonel  von  Donop,  intent  on  wiping  off  the 
disgrace  of  Trenton,  obtained  leave  to  assault  Fort  Mercer 
at  the  head  of  a  force  composed  exclusively  of  Hessians  ; 
but  the  attempt  failed,  and  the  brave  German  fell  mor- 
tally wounded  amid  a  great  carnage  of  his  followers. 
EarUer  in  the  same  year,  at  Bennington  in  the  Hamp- 
shire Grants,  Colonel  Stark  hastily  mustered  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  country-side,  routed  Burgoyne's  Bruns- 
wickers,  and  captured  them  by  many  hundreds  in  a 
battle   which    proved   to   be   the    turning-point   of   the 

Mn  the  Treaties  made  by  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Great  Britain 
with  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  the  Hereditary  Prince  of  Hesse  Cassel, 
Reigninjj  Count  of  Hanau,  it  was  expressly  stipulated  that  for  every  foot- 
soldier  killed  there  should  be  paid  "thirty  crowns  Banco,  the  crown 
reckoned  at  fifty  three  sols  of  Holland."  In  the  Treaty  with  the  Land- 
grave of  Hesse  Cassel  the  principle  was  asserted,  but  the  details  were  left 
unspecitied. 

2  The  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel  to  Lieutenant  General  von  Knyp- 
hausen  ;  Cassel,  April  7,  1777.  Von  Heister,  two  months  after  his  return, 
died  of  sorrow  and  disappointment. 


124  ^^^  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Saratoga  campaign,  which  was  the  turning-point  of  the 
whole  war.  Such  was  the  fate  of  the  only  two  German 
contingents  that  possessed  the  martial  traditions,  the 
corporate  spirit,  and  the  robust  organisation  of  long-es- 
tablished armies.  It  was  evident  that  George  the  Third 
could  expect  little,  —  and  he  most  undoubtedly  obtained 
nothing, — -from  the  fragmentary  and  extemporised  rab- 
bles of  unwilling  peasants  who  had  been  pressed  upon 
his  acceptance  by  the  minor  potentates  of  Franconia. 
Industrious  plunderers,^  and  soldiers  of  no  account,  that 
wretched  infantry  went  through  the  war,  (whatever  might 
be  the  case  as  to  their  honour,)  with  their  bayonets  un- 
stained. The  military  record  of  the  Anhalt  Zerbst  bat- 
talion was  farcical ;  the  Waldeckers  all  of  them  surren- 
dered in  detachments ;  and  the  Anspach  and  Bayreuth 
regiments  were  captured  bodily  at  Yorktown.  Seldom 
has  public  money  been  worse  laid  out  than  in  the  case 
of  Lord  North's  Continental  subsidies.  The  unpopularity 
of  that  policy  in  England,  the  disapprobation  of  Europe, 
and  the  irremediable  alienation  of  American  loyalty,  far 
over-balanced  any  military  advantage  which  accrued 
from  the  extravagantly  remunerated  services  of  the 
German  mercenaries. 

Washington  had  caught  the  occasion  by  the  forelock, 
at  a  moment  when,  unless  his  grasp  had  held  firm,  all 
would  have  been  over  with  himself  and  his  cause.  A 
few  days  before  Christmas  he  informed  Robert  Morris 
that  Sir  William  Howe,  in  order  to  prosecute  his  designs 

^  In  March  1 780  a  raiding  expedition  pillaged  the  rich  and  beautiful 
village  of  Hackensac,  which  was  entirely  undefended.  Some  Americans 
came  in  arms  to  the  rescue  ;  and  the  spoilers  ran.  "  My  own  booty,"  wrote 
an  Anspach  musketeer,  "  which  I  brought  safely  back,  consisted  of  two 
silver  watches,  three  sets  of  silver  buckles,  a  pair  of  woman's  cotton  stock- 
ings, a  pair  of  man's  mixed  summer  stockings,  two  shirts  and  four  chemises 
of  fine  English  linen,  two  fine  table-cloths,  one  silver  table-spoon  and  one 
teaspoon,  five  Spanish  dollars  and  six  York  shillings  in  money.  The  other 
part,  namely  eleven  pieces  of  fine  linen  and  over  two  dozen  silk  handker- 
chiefs, with  six  silver  plates  and  a  silver  drinking-mug,  which  were  tied  to- 
gether in  a  bundle,  I  had  to  throw  away  on  account  of  our  hurried  march, 
and  leave  them  to  the  enemy  that  was  pursuing  us." 


PRINCETON  125 

against  Philadelphia,  was  only  waiting  for  the  Delaware 
to  freeze,  and  for  that  first  of  January  1777  when  the 
American  army  would  disband  itself.  You  might  as 
well,  (said  Washington,)  attempt  to  stop  the  winds  from 
blowing,  or  the  sun  in  its  diurnal  revolution,  as  to  pre- 
vent the  soldiers  from  going  home  when  their  time  was 
up.  In  another  important  direction  the  outlook  was  most 
discouraging,  "  It  is  mortifying  to  me,"  Morris  wrote  to 
President  Hancock,  "  when  I  am  obliged  to  tell  you  disa- 
greeable things  ;  but  I  am  compelled  to  inform  Congress 
that  the  Continental  currency  keeps  losing  its  credit. 
Many  people  refuse  openly  and  avowedly  to  receive  it ; 
and  several  citizens,  that  retired  into  the  country,  must 
have  starved  if  their  own  private  credit  had  not  procured 
them  the  common  necessaries  of  life,  when  nothing  could 
be  got  for  your  money."  ^  General  Lee  was  known  to 
be  in  pecuniary  distress ;  and  Congress  had  procured  a 
hundred  of  the  pieces  which  went  by  the  name  of  a 
half-johannes,  in  order  to  relieve  the  immediate  necessi- 
ties of  the  distinguished  prisoner.  Washington  was  en- 
trusted with  the  disbursement  of  this  slender  hoard  ;  and 
it  was  all  the  specie  which  his  military  chest  contained. 
He  was  already  bare  of  money,  and  by  the  week's  end 
the  greater  part  of  his  troops  would  have  disappeared, 
when  his  cannon  opened  fire  on  Trenton,  and  the  sav- 
ing mercy  came. 

Then  at  last,  and  at  once,  the  prospect  brightened. 
Wherever,  and  whenever,  the  thrice-welcome  news  ar- 
rived, the  whole  Confederacy  was  astir.  From  one  State 
and  another  the  authorities  sent  in  word  that  every  man 
should  march  who  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  move.  In 
Connecticut,  —  where  Jonathan  Trumbull  ruled  with  the 
despotic  power  which  at  a  national  crisis  is  accorded  to 
conspicuous  energy  and  tried  probity,  —  it  was  reported 
on  the  twenty-eighth  of  December  that  some  hundreds 
of  substantial  freeholders,  many  of  them  not  belonging 
to  the  militia,  had  engaged  with  a  generous  ardour  to 

1  Robert  Morris  to  the  President  of  Congress  at  Baltimore  ;  Philadel- 
phia, December  23,  1776. 


126  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

serve  for  two  months  at  least,  until  the  four  Continental 
battahons,  which  the  State  was  bound  to  furnish,  had 
been  equipped  and  disciplined.  Several  Colonels  and 
Majors,  setting  considerations  of  rank  aside,  had  readily 
accepted  the  command  of  companies.  On  the  same  day 
Washington  was  informed  that  Pennsylvania  had  at 
length  been  fairly  roused,  and  was  coming  in  great  num- 
bers to  His  Excellency's  support.^  The  encouraging  as- 
surance proceeded  from  General  Mifflin  himself.  That 
admirable  recruiting  officer  had  been  working  hard  amid 
gloom  and  discouragement;  but  the  light  had  broken 
through  the  clouds ;  a  single  day  of  sunshine  enabled 
him  to  complete  the  harvest ;  and  he  returned  from  his 
labours,  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him.  Before  ever  the 
year  ended,  sixteen  hundred  more  Pennsylvanian  militia- 
men had  been  sent  across  the  Bristol  Ferry  to  Burling- 
ton and  Bordentown.  Washington's  most  pressing  care, 
however,  was  not  so  much  to  obtain  additional  regiments 
as  to  preserve  those  which  he  had  already.  "  The  Con- 
tinental troops,"  (he  wrote  to  Robert  Morris,)  "are  all 
at  liberty.  I  wish  to  push  our  success  to  keep  up  the 
panick,  and  have  promised  them  a  bounty  of  ten  dollars, 
if  they  will  continue  for  one  month.  If  it  be  possible, 
Sir,  to  give  us  assistance,  do  it.  Borrow  money  where 
it  can  be  done.  We  are  doing  it  upon  our  private  credit. 
Every  man  of  interest,  every  lover  of  his  country,  must 
strain  his  credit  upon  such  an  occasion."  ^ 

Washington  led  the  way  by  pledging  his  own  estate, 
for  all  that  it  would  bear,  in  case  Congress  should 
neglect,  or  refuse,  to  make  his  promise  of  a  bounty 
good.  Colonel  Stark,  and  other  hard-fighting  officers 
who  likewise  were  men  of  substance,  did  not  show 
themselves  behindhand  with  their  chief  in  patriotism 
and  disinterestedness ;  and  four  hundred  and  ten  Span- 
ish dollars,  two  crowns,  ten  shillings  and  sixpence  in  Eng- 
Hsh  coin,  and  a  French  half-crown,  were  contributed  as 
a  unique  and  precious  oblation  by  Robert  Morris.     That 

'^American  Archives  for  the  later  days  of  December  1776. 

2  Washington  to  Robert  Morris  ;  Trenton,  December  31,  1776. 


PRINCETON  127 

was  all  the  gold  and    silver  which  the  great  financier 
could  scrape  together  in  Philadelphia  ;  but  on  the  first 
of  January  he  sent  Washington  fifty  thousand  dollars  in 
paper,  collected    among    his  private  friends,  or  drawn 
out  of  his  own  pocket  ;   and  he  accompanied  the  gift 
with  a  cheerful,  fraternal  letter  which  it  must  have  done 
the  General's  heart  good  to  read.^     Boston  meanwhile, 
—  safe  within  her  own  borders,  and  mindful  of  those 
whose  turn  it  now  was  to   hazard  their  lives  for  the 
principles  which  she  had  been  the  first  to  proclaim,  and 
the  foremost   to  defend,  —  sent  a  plentiful  assortment 
of  shoes  and  stockings,  and  of  still  more  essential  gar- 
ments, to  clothe  the  destitute  New  England  regiments. 
With  these  material  resources  in  hand,  the  most  per- 
suasive and  influential  officers  united  in  exhorting  their 
soldiers  to  remain  a  while  longer  in  the  ranks ;  and  of 
eloquence,  in  that  army,  there  was  a  larger  supply  than 
of  creature-comforts  or  solid  cash.     Washington  spoke 
his   best;  and  Knox   also;    while   every   regiment  had 
an    opportunity  of   hearing    General  Mifflin   harangue, 
"  mounted  on  a  noble-looking  horse,  in  a  coat  made  of 
rose-coloured  blanket,  with  a  large  fur  cap  on  his  head." 
The  man  whose  words,  —  winged  by  his  own  noble,  and 
even  sublime,  example,  —  flew  most  directly  and  surely 
to  the  mark,  was  the  commander  of  the  Massachusetts 
and  Rhode  Island  brigade.     Colonel  Daniel  Hitchcock, 
a  Master  of  Arts  of  Yale  College,  was  an  accomplished 
gentleman,  and  as  fine  a  classical  scholar  as  the  erudi- 
tion of  the  colonies  could  then  produce.     In  the  last  stage 
of  consumption,  he  still  might  look  forward  to  another 
fortnight   of   existence  among  the  snow-gusts   of   that 
chilling  winter;    and    his  men  heard    him  eagerly  and 
sadly  when  he  adjured  them  not  to  desert  him  until 
he  had  the  satisfaction  of  striking  one  more  blow  for 
America.     A  great  number  of  them  assured  him  that 

1  "  If  further  supplies  of  money,"  Morris  wrote,  "are  necessary,  you 
may  depend  on  my  exertions  either  in  a  public  or  private  capacity.  The 
year  Seventeen  seventy-six  is  over  ;  and  I  am  heartily  glad  of  it,  and 
hope  you,  nor  America,  will  be  plagued  with  sucli  another." 


128  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

he  might  count  upon  having  his  own  soldiers  round  him 
to  the  last ;  and  the  New  England  brigade  set  the  rest 
of  the  army  an  example  which  Washington  described 
as  an  extraordinary  mark  of  their  attachment  to  their 
country.  The  militia,  (so  the  Commander-in-Chief 
wrote,)  were  pouring  in  from  all  quarters,  and  only 
wanted  a  firm  body  of  troops,  inured  to  danger,  to  lead 
them  on.^  He  did  not  pitch  his  hopes  too  high ;  and 
he  was  tolerably  contented  when  more  than  half  his 
Continental  veterans  agreed  to  stay  six  weeks  beyond 
their  term  of  enlistment ;  for  that  period  would  see  the 
Republic  through  the  gravest  of  the  peril.^  Congress, 
schooled  by  misfortune,  had  authorised  Washington  to 
raise,  organise,  and  equip  a  large  additional  body  of 
regular  troops,  and  had  invested  him  with  supreme 
military  powers  for  the  furtherance  of  that  object. 
Those  powers  were  already  being  employed  to  such 
purpose  that,  if  he  could  hold  his  own  for  one  or  two 
months  longer,  he  would  find  himself  at  the  head  of 
a  force  which,  in  comparison  with  anything  he  had  yet 
commanded,  might  almost  be  termed  a  standing  army. 
On  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  thirtieth  of  Decem- 
ber, Washington  passed  the  Delaware,  in  order  to  try 
conclusions  with  a  better  prepared,  and  a  much  stouter, 

^  Washington  to  the  officer  commanding  at  Morristown,  December  30, 
1776;  to  the  President  of  Congress,  January  i,  1777;  to  the  Committee 
of  Congress  remaining  in  Philadelphia,  January  I,  1777. 

■^  David  How's  battalion  was  approached,  like  the  others,  with  the  offer 
of  a  bounty. 

"Dec.  31,  The  General  ordered  all  to  parade  And  see  How  many 
wood  Stay  6  Weaks  Longer  and  a  Grate  Part  of  the  Army  Stays  for  that 
time. 

"January  i.  This  fore  noon  we  have  ben  Drawing  our  wages  and 
Sauce  money.  This  after  Noon  we  set  out  For  New  England  marched 
4  miles.     Staid  at  night  there." 

It  is  plain  that  How  himself  insisted  on  his  right  to  leave  the  colours, 
and  go  home.  Nine  months  afterwards  he  turned  out  once  more,  "  to 
march  to  General  Gates  his  assistance,"  and  arrived  in  time  to  witness  the 
capitulation  of  Burgoyne.  That,  so  far  as  is  known,  was  his  last  service. 
Having  taken  part  at  Bunker's  Hill,  at  the  capture  of  Boston,  at  Trenton, 
and  at  Saratoga,  he  had  done  his  share  towards  the  manufacture  of 
history. 


PRINCETON  129 

adversary  than  the  Germans  whom  he  had  overthrown 
at  Trenton.  His  head-quarters  were  transferred  to  that 
village ;  where  all  his  levies,  new  and  old,  had  been 
directed  to  muster.  Stirling  was  left  in  charge  on  the 
Pennsylvanian  bank  of  the  river,  temporarily  crippled  by 
a  well-earned  attack  of  rheumatism ;  that  scourge  of 
elderly  generals  who  have  enjoyed  life  freely,  but  who 
do  not  shrink  from  hardship  and  exposure  in  the  field. 
Within  three  days  Washington  had  collected  round  him 
five  thousand  men  and  forty  pieces  of  artillery.  His 
army  was  a  medley  of  unequally  sized  and  very  dis- 
similar fragments,  of  which  the  best  were  the  smallest. 
Of  Haslet's  eight  hundred  Delawares  only  a  hundred 
remained ;  and  the  Marylanders,  who  had  marched  to 
Long  Island  a  thousand  strong,  had  been  reduced,  there 
and  elsewhere,  to  less  than  eight-score  effective  soldiers. 
The  militia  regiments  on  the  other  hand,  none  of  which 
had  been  embodied  during  more  than  a  fortnight,  were 
full  to  overflowing,  and  made  up  quite  half  the  numbers, 
though  very  much  less  than  half  the  strength,  of  Wash- 
ington's army.  Different,  indeed,  was  the  character 
and  the  composition  of  that  force  which  was  being 
hurried  forward  to  recover  New  Jersey  for  the  Crown, 
and  to  retrieve  the  credit  of  the  Royal  arras.  When 
Colonel  Rail's  defeat  became  known  in  New  York, 
time  was  not  squandered,  nor  pains  spared.  The  finest 
of  the  English  regiments  were  sent  off  as  fast  as  they 
could  be  got  into  travelling  order,  and  pushed  quickly 
towards  the  Delaware,  gathering  up  the  garrisons  which 
were  stationed  along  their  hne  of  march.  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  whose  baggage  was  already  on  board  for  Eng- 
land, gave  up  all  thought  of  that  voyage  ;  started  for 
the  front  on  the  first  morning  of  the  New  Year ;  covered 
fifty  miles  of  road  at  the  pace  of  a  fox-hunter  on  the 
way  to  a  distant  meet ;  and  by  nightfall  was  already  at 
Princeton,  at  the  head  of  eight  thousand  magnificent 
soldiers,  and  a  powerful  train  of  cannon.  Before  day- 
light next  morning  he  set  the  bulk  of  his  troops  in 
motion  for  an  immediate  advance  on  Trenton  ;  wliile  a 


130  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Strong  rear-guard  remained  behind   at  Princeton,  with 
orders  to  rejoin  the  main  army  early  on  the  morrow. 

It  was  a  bad  prospect  for  Washington ;  but  he  had 
very  carefully  weighed  the  alternative  dangers  which 
beset  him ;  and  he  had  made  up  his  mind,  at  any  risk 
whatsoever,  to  hold  his  ground  to  the  east  of  the 
Delaware.  He  was  firmly  resolved  on  no  account  to 
abandon  those  inhabitants  of  New  Jersey  who  had 
hailed  his  recent  victory  as  the  signal  of  their  own 
deliverance,  and  had  openly  and  definitively  cast  in 
their  lot  with  the  Revolution. ^  Trenton,  however,  (as 
Washington,  in  the  course  of  the  past  week,  had  bril- 
liantly and  conclusively  proved,)  was  not  a  defensible 
post.  He  therefore  established  himself  on  the  flank  of 
the  village,  and  disposed  his  army  in  line  of  battle  over 
a  space  of  three  miles  along  the  southern  shore  of  the 
Assunpink  Creek,  with  his  left  resting  on  the  Delaware 
river.  Time  was  of  moment  to  him  ;  for  his  force  was 
not  yet  completely  assembled,  and  his  more  remote  de- 
tachments were  still  coming  into  camp  during  the  whole 
forenoon  of  the  second  of  January.  He  accordingly 
despatched  a  body  of  picked  troops  towards  Maiden- 
head, with  orders  to  delay  the  enemy's  march,  and 
stave  off  the  impending  general  engagement  during  at 
least  four-and-twenty  hours.  His  injunctions  were  faith- 
fully and  scrupulously  obeyed.  Cornwallis  advanced 
in  three  columns  along,  and  alongside,  the  Prince- 
ton highway.  The  English  light  infantry  swarmed  on 
ahead,  together  with  a  strong  party  of  Hessian  chas- 
seurs attached  to  the  command  of  Colonel  von  Donop, 
who  always  knew  the  trick  of  making  his  soldiers  fight. 
But  the  Americans  had  by  now  acquired  the  self-respect 
and  the  self-possession  of  veterans  who  would  be 
equally  ashamed  to  fail  in  their  duty  by  remissness, 
or  by  rashness  to  sacrifice  in  killed  and  wounded    a 

^  "Our  situation  was  most  critical,  and  our  force  small.  To  remove 
immediately  was  again  destroying  every  dawn  of  hope  which  had  begun 
to  revive  in  the  breasts  of  the  Jersey  militia."'  Washington  to  the 
President  of  Congress;  January  5,  1777. 


PRINCETON  131 

heavier  toll  than  the  performance  of  that  duty  una- 
voidably exacted.  They  disputed  each  turn  of  the 
road,  and  every  thicket  and  ravine  which  lay  to  the 
right  or  the  left  of  it.  Once  at  least  the  British  artil- 
lery had  to  be  fetched  up  from  the  rear  in  order  to 
dislodge  them  from  a  position  of  advantage.  Both 
sides,  as  is  usual  in  an  affair  of  that  nature,  imagined 
that  they  were  destroying  a  great  number  of  their 
opponents,  and  knew  that  they  were  losing  very  few  of 
their  own  people ;  ^  but,  although  the  Americans  had 
not  shot  down  many  adversaries,  they  had  killed  much 
time.  The  British  advance  guard  which,  without  dis- 
playing any  backwardness,  had  consumed  eight  hours 
in  traversing  just  as  many  miles,  did  not  reach  the 
houses  of  Trenton  until  four  in  the  evening;  after 
which,  in  the  first  week  of  January,  there  is  little  day- 
light left. 

Cornwallis,  when  on  active  service,  was  an  early 
riser ;  and  he  was  sure  to  be  at  work  the  next  morning 
as  soon  as  he  left  his  bed.  So  able  a  soldier  could  be 
under  no  doubt  as  to  what  it  was  incumbent  on  him  to 
do.  A  front  attack  on  the  hostile  position  was  alto- 
gether out  of  the  question.  Except  in  a  very  few  places 
the  Assunpink  was  too  deep  for  wading,  as  the  Von 
Knyphausens  had  learned  to  their  cost ;  the  bridge,  and 
all  the  fords,  were  protected  by  earthworks ;  and  the 
passage  of  the  stream  was  commanded  by  more  than 
three  times  as  many  muskets,  and  six  times  as  many 
cannon,  as  had  swept  the  slope  in  front  of  Bunker's 
Hill.  But  Cornwallis  had  a  superior  force  of  well- 
trained  troops,  who  manoeuvred  with  promptitude  and 
precision ;  and  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  for  him  to 
turn  the  right  flank  of  the  enemy  in  the  direction  of 
Allenstown,  and  force  them  into  a  combat  on  equal 
terms  and   in  the  open    country.     A  full    half  of    the 

^  Two  or  three  American  officers  were  wounded,  and  some  of  their 
men  were  killed.  The  Hessians  lust  lifteen,  includinj^  a  chasseur  whose 
ghost,  according  to  the  negroes  of  the  neighbourhood,  walked  the 
Maidenhead  woods  for  many  years  afterwards. 

K  2 


132  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Americans  were  militiamen,  badly  drilled,  and  new  to 
warfare;  whereas  none  of  Cornwallis's  regiments  were 
much  below  the  average  quality  of  the  Royal  army,  — 
and  that  average  was  very  high.  Most  mihtary  critics 
hold  that,  in  a  pitched  battle,  Washington  would  prob- 
ably have  been  beaten  ;  and  they  all  of  them  are  agreed 
that,  if  beaten,  he  would  have  been  utterly  ruined.^ 

The  situation  was  alarming,  but  of  the  class  with 
which  Washington  had  always  been  singularly  capable 
of  dealing.  He  rapidly  thought  out  a  scheme  by  which 
he  might  extricate  his  troops  from  the  front  of  peril 
without  discouraging  or  humiliating  them,  and  might 
attain  the  fruits  of  victory  more  cheaply  than  at  the 
price  of  a  bloody  and  dubious  encounter  with  the  whole 
of  the  Royal  army.^  His  objects  were  very  clear  before 
him  ;  and  there  was  no  bunghng  or  hesitation  in  the 
methods  which  he  adopted  in  order  to  ensure  success. 
Cornwallis  and  his  staff  noticed  a  display  of  activity  in 
the  American  lines  which,  to  their  view,  augured  a  deep 
anxiety  on  Washington's  part  as  to  the  issue  of  the  im- 
pending battle.  Camp  fires,  fed  with  cedar  rails  from 
the  fences  round,  were  blazing  all  along  the  bank-top, 
and  all  through  the  night.  Sentinels  challenged;  and 
strong  parties  of  infantry  paced  up  and  down  the  fore- 
ground of  the  position  until  morning  broke.  Especially 
observable  was  the  industry  with  which  the  American 
engineers  employed  the  interval  of  darkness  for  strength- 
ening the  fortification  at  the  bridge.  The  British  pickets 
could  distinctly  hear  the  voices  of  workmen,  the  blows 
of  axes,  and  the  rattle  of  frozen  earth  as  it  was  tossed 

1  General  Knox  put  the  case  very  frankly  in  a  letter  to  his  wife. 
"The  situation,"  he  wrote,  "  was  strong  to  be  sure,  but  hazardous  on  this 
account,  that,  had  our  right  been  defeated,  the  defeat  of  the  left  would 
almost  have  been  an  inevitable  consequence,  and  the  whole  thrown  into 
confusion,  or  pushed  into  the  Delaware,  as  it  was  impassable  by  boats." 

2  Washington  gave  President  Hancock  his  reason  for  marching  on 
Princeton  in  a  sentence  of  involved  construction,  but  perfectly  plain  in 
meaning.  "  One  thing  I  was  certain  of,  that  it  would  avoid  the  appear- 
ance of  a  retreat,  (which  was  of  consequence,  or  to  run  the  hazard  of  the 
whole  army  being  cut  off ; )  whilst  we  might  by  a  fortunate  stroke  with- 
draw General  Howe  from  Trenton,  and  give  some  reputation  to  our  arms." 


PRINCETON 


133 


out  of  the  ditches  by  the  spade.  But  the  real  business 
of  the  night  was  conducted  elsewhere.  The  heaviest 
American  cannon,  and  all  the  stores  and  baggage,  were 
packed  off  to  Bordentown  and  Burlington  ;  and  at  one 
in  the  morning  the  army  commenced  a  movement  the 
nature  and  the  direction  of  which  had  been  disclosed  to 
no  one  below  the  rank  of  Brigadier.  So  strictly  was  the 
secret  kept  that  officers,  who  had  taken  up  their  quarters 
in  farmhouses  to  rear  of  the  bivouacs,  were  left  to  have 
their  sleep  out,  and  next  day  found  difficulty  in  rejoin- 
ing their  regiments. ^  Orders  were  given  in  a  whisper ; 
muskets  were  gingerly  handled,  and  footfalls  lightly 
planted;  and  the  tires  of  the  gun-wheels  had  all  been 
carefully  wrapped  in  strips  of  cloth.  A  hard  frost  made 
the  muddy  causeways  passable  for  artillery ;  and  the 
frequent  forests  through  which  those  causeways  led  did 
not  confuse  or  impede  the  progress  of  the  expedition. 
An  army  containing  so  many  Indian  fighters,  from  the 
Commander-in-Chief  downwards,  was  at  home  among 
the  woods  in  night-time ;  and  the  journey  proceeded 
from  start  to  finish  without  mishap  or  misadventure. 
Washington  steered  his  course  with  an  inclination 
towards  the  east,  and  then  gradually  worked  round  to 
the  northwest,  until  at  daybreak  he  struck  the  Princeton 
highway  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  southward  of  that 
town.  He  came  out  exactly  where  he  intended  ;  but  he 
hghted  upon  something  which  he  had  not  anticipated ; 
for  marching  down  the  road  across  his  front  was  a 
column  of  red-coated  infantry. 

Cornwallis  had  left  at  Princeton  for  the  night  three 
regiments  of  the  British  line,  with  two  guns,  and  a  small 
force  of  light  dragoons.  Some  of  these  troops  were 
now  pushing  on  for  Trenton,  to  take  their  part  in  the 
expected  battle,  with  a  haste  which  was  to  the  credit  of 
their  courage,  and  an  absence  of  caution  that  was  a 

1  Chapter  xv.  of  Stryker's  Trenton  and  Princeton.  The  account  there 
given  of  Washington's  flank-march  is  illustrated  by  the  local  knowledge 
of  a  neighbour,  and  the  oral  traditions  accessible  to  the  member  of  an  old 
Revolutionary  family. 


134  ^^^   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

practical  and  most  indisputable  compliment  to  the  craft 
and  secrecy  of  Washington's  strategy.  The  British, 
(so  General  Knox  wrote,)  were  as  much  astonished  as 
if  an  army  had  dropped  perpendicularly  upon  them 
from  the  clouds  ;  ^  but,  though  amazed,  they  were  not 
confounded.  They  at  once  faced  about,  deployed  into 
line,  and  came  valiantly,  and  even  jauntily,  forwards. 
Colonel  Mawhood,  of  the  Seventeenth  Foot,  who  was 
their  acting  Brigadier,  rode  among  them  on  a  small 
brown  pony,  with  two  favourite  spaniels  bounding 
before  him.  The  Americans  were  cold  and  hungry,  and 
worn  out  by  toil  and  want  of  sleep.  The  Enghsh  were 
fresh  and  well  breakfasted ;  but  that  was  the  sole  ad- 
vantage which  they  enjoyed;  for  they  were  outnumbered 
four  to  one,  and  their  scanty  force  was  dispersed  in 
three  segments.  The  Fortieth  regiment  had  remained 
in  Princeton  to  guard  the  stores ;  the  Fifty-fifth,  though 
already  on  the  road,  was  a  mile  to  the  rear ;  and  Colonel 
Mawhood  had  under  his  hand  little  besides  his  own  bat- 
talion. During  the  first  few  minutes  the  odds  were  not 
unequal.  In  the  van  of  the  American  army  was  a  weak 
brigade  of  Continental  infantry,  under  the  command 
of  General  Mercer,  —  a  man  of  mature  years,  with  a 
varied,  an  eventful,  and  a  most  honourable  career  behind 
him.  He  served  as  surgeon  in  Prince  Charles's  army 
at  CuUoden ;  he  had  borne  arms  with  distinction  in 
French  and  Indian  warfare  ;  and  before  the  Revolution 
he  was  a  physician,  noted  throughout  Virginia  for  his 
skill  and  gentleness.  Both  parties  raced  for  the  posses- 
sion of  an  orchard  which  lay  midway  between  them. 
The  Americans  reached  it  first,  but  the  English 
appeared  to  want  it  the  most.  Three  volleys  were 
exchanged  across  a  space  of  forty  yards ;  and  then 
Colonel  Mawhood  led  on  his  people  at  a  run.  It  was 
a  bayonet-charge  of  another  sort  from  that  of  poor 
Colonel  Rail.  The  Continental  soldiers  broke  and  fled ; 
but  some  of  the  officers  remained  at  their  post,  and  died 
very    staunchly.      Two    New   Jersey    field-pieces   were 

1  General  Knox  to  his  wife  ;   Morristown,  January  7,  1777. 


PRINCETON  135 

captured,  and  the  captain  in  charge  of  them  was  killed 
at  his  guns.  Mercer  himself  used  his  sword  until  he 
fell  covered  with  wounds.  Those  who  witnessed  the 
behaviour  of  the  Seventeenth  Foot  on  that  occasion 
might  well  ask  themselves  what  would  have  happened 
if  Cornwallis  had  hurled  not  one,  but  twelve  or  fifteen, 
of  such  regiments  against  the  right  wing  of  the  Ameri- 
can army  while  it  was  enclosed  and  entrapped  between 
the  ice-laden  flood  of  the  Delaware,  and  the  unfordablc 
Assunpink  Creek. 

The  British  followed  in  pursuit;  but  they  found 
themselves  in  presence  of  numerous  reinforcements 
which  were  flocking  in  towards  the  sound  of  the  firing. 
Immediately  to  their  front  was  a  great  mass  of  the 
Philadelphia  Associators.  These  unpractised  soldiers, 
civilians  of  yesterday,  were  thrown  into  disorder  by  the 
backward  rush  of  their  defeated  countrymen ;  but  they 
were  recalled  to  their  duty  by  the  strenuous  exertions 
of  some  gallant  men  who  did  not  ask  themselves  whether 
that  lead-swept  spot  of  ground  was  the  precise  place  to 
which  their  special  business  called  them.  Captain  Will- 
iam Shippen,  a  naval  officer  of  the  Delaware  squadron, 
there  got  his  death-wound  ;  and  Colonel  Haslet  dropped 
wqth  a  bullet  through  his  brain.  In  his  pocket  was  an 
order  directing  him  to  go  home  on  recruiting  service, 
which  he  had  divulged  to  no  one,  and  had  silently  dis- 
obeyed. Washington  himself  rode  forward  between  the 
opposing  lines,  until  he  was  within  thirty  paces  of  the 
hostile  muzzles.  His  friends  disapproved  the  action  as 
an  excess  of  rashness ;  but  it  was  a  matter  on  which, 
like  Wolfe  before  him,  and  Wellington  after  him,  he 
had  no  conscience  whatsoever.^  The  veterans  from 
Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts,  whom  Colonel  Hitch- 
cock   brought    into   action    in    soldierly    array,  showed 

^  One  of  our  generals,  in  the  Peninsular  war,  had  been  too  reckless 
of  his  own  safety  under  fire.  "  Lord  Wellington,"  wrote  Sir  George 
Larpent,  "  blames  his  exposing  himself;  with  what  face  I  know  not." 
That  was  a  fine  compliment  to  the  valour  of  the  Commander-in-Chief; 
and  very  pithily  turned. 


136  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

a  steadfast  countenance ;  the  Philadelphia  Associators 
warmed  to  their  work,  and  Mercer's  soldiers  began  to 
come  back,  as  soon  as  there  was  a  nucleus  of  discipline 
and  martial  resolution  on  which  to  rally ;  and  the  whole 
space  in  front,  and  in  flank,  of  the  English  regiment 
was  rapidly  thronged  with  as  many  militiamen,  regulars, 
and  riflemen  from  the  Western  frontier,  as  could  find 
room  to  ply  their  firelocks.  The  adversaries  were  sepa- 
rated by  so  short  a  distance  that  they  could  hear  each 
other  speak  during  the  moments  which  elapsed  before 
the  roar  of  musketry  commenced.^  A  Pennsylvanian 
battery  was  brought  almost  within  pistol  range,  and  the 
guns  were  discharged  with  such  terrible  effect  as  to 
shock  those  American  officers  who  observed  the  ravages 
of  the  grape-shot.  It  was  the  old  story.  During  the 
early  portion  of  the  war  it  had  sometimes  not  been  easy 
to  induce  the  country-bred  troops  to  stand ;  but,  when- 
ever they  held  their  ground,  their  fire  was  extraordinarily 
destructive.  The  Hne  of  British  infantry,  a  bare  four 
hundred  to  begin  with,  must  very  soon  have  been  anni- 
hilated. No  miUtary  object  could  be  promoted  by  such 
a  tragedy ;  enough  had  been  done  for  honour ;  and 
Colonel  Mawhood  turned  his  attention  to  the  task  of 
saving  the  remnant  of  his  battahon.  He  abandoned 
the  two  cannon  which  he  had  taken,  and  two  others 
of  his  own,  and  made  off  in  the  direction  of  Trenton, 
covering  his  retreat,  as  best  he  might,  with  a  handful 
of  cavalry .2 

According  to  those  who  professed  to  have  taken  the 
time  by  their  watches,  all  this  desperate  fighting  was 
crowded  into  fifteen  minutes ;  and  in  that  quarter  of 
an  hour  the  affair  had  been  decided.  When  Colonel 
Mawhood  retired  from  the  field,  the  rest  of  the  British 

1  As  the  First  Virginians  were  being  got  into  position,  Captain  John 
Fleming  called  out,  "  Gentlemen,  dress  the  line."  "  We  will  dress  you," 
a  British  private  retorted  ;    and  Fleming  was  killed  the  next  instant. 

'■^  "  In  this  trying  and  dangerous  situaticjn  the  brave  commander,  and 
his  equally  brave  regiment,  have  gained  immortal  honour."  That  sentence, 
from  the  "History  of  Europe"  in  the  Annual  Register,  expressed  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  Colonel  Mawhood's  countrymen. 


PRINCETON  137 

force  would  have  done  well  at  once  to  march  away  in 
the  opposite  direction  ;  but  they  now  were  entirely  cut 
off  from  their  commanding  officer,  and  they  had  no 
orders.  Without  artillery,  and  on  ground  not  adapted 
for  effectual  defence,  they  very  speedily  had  upon  their 
hands  the  whole  of  Washington's  army.  General  Sulli- 
van, who  led  the  right  wing  of  the  Americans,  advanced 
vigorously  against  Princeton,  and  drove  the  Fifty-fifth 
and  Fortieth  regiments  in  a  northerly  direction  through 
and  beyond  the  town,  kiUing  a  few,  and  capturing  large 
numbers  of  prisoners.  An  attempt  at  resistance  was 
made  in  and  around  the  College.  Even  in  that  quarter 
there  was  very  little  bloodshed,  but  some  profanation ; 
for  young  Alexander  Hamilton,  with  the  irreverence 
of  a  student  fresh  from  a  rival  place  of  education, 
planted  his  guns  on  the  sacred  grass  of  the  academical 
Campus,  and  fired  a  six-pound  shot  which  is  said  to 
have  passed  through  the  head  of  King  George  the 
Second's  portrait  in  the  Chapel.  The  buildings  were 
soon  encompassed  by  an  overwhelming  force,  and  their 
garrison  surrendered  at  discretion. 

When  the  town  had  been  cleared,  Washington  came 
to  an  almost  instant  resolution  as  to  the  course  which 
it  behoved  him  to  pursue.  If  he  had  been  able  to 
dispose  of  six  or  eight  hundred  troops  with  some  spring 
and  alertness  left  in  them,  he  would,  (he  said,)  have 
made  a  forced  march  on  Brunswick,  which  contained 
the  magazines  belonging  to  the  British  army  of  occu- 
pation, as  well  as  their  military  chest,  with  seventy 
thousand  pounds  inside  it.^  But  his  soldiers,  who  had 
carried  their  arms  during  forty  continuous  hours  of 
bitter  weather,  were  falling  asleep  on  the  frozen 
ground ;  and  there  was  no  time  allowed  them  to  snatch 
a  rest  or  cook  a  meal.  As  soon  as  the  sun  tinged  with 
light  the  fog  of  early  morning,  Cornwallis  discovered 
the  trick  which  had  been  played  him  on  the  Assunpink 
Creek ;  and  he  marched  at  top-speed  towards  the  dis- 

'  Washington  to  the   President  of  Congress  ;    riuckcmin,  January  5, 

1777. 


138  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

tant  boom  of  the  cannon,  —  that  most  distracting  of  all 
music  in  the  ears  of  those  who  themselves  ought  by 
rights  to  be  taking  an  active  part  in  the  concert.  While 
Washington's  rear-guard  was  still  within  sight  of  Prince- 
ton, the  British  light  infantry  were  already  at  the  south- 
ern entrance  of  the  village ;  and  the  Americans  would 
have  been  overtaken  by  their  pursuers  before  ever  they 
reached  Brunswick.  There,  by  all  the  rules  of  war,  they 
should  have  encountered  Sir  William  Howe  and  his 
New  York  army;  and  they  would  have  been  caught 
between  two  fires,  either  of  which  was  quite  as  hot  as 
they  could  endure.  At  a  point  five  miles  beyond  Prince- 
ton, Washington  turned  due  north  out  of  the  Bruns- 
wick road ;  lay  that  night  at  Somerset  Court  House ; 
and  marched  thence,  by  Pluckemin,  to  the  central,  the 
convenient,  and  the  very  defensible  position  of  Morris- 
town.  There  he  established  his  troops  securely,  and, 
(by  comparison  with  their  experiences  during  the  first 
ten  weeks  of  winter,)  not  uncomfortably.  Undisturbed 
by  the  adversary,  —  and  in  daily  communication  with 
Albany,  Philadelphia,  and  New  England,  —  he  abode 
during  the  next  four  months  at  his  head-quarters  in  the 
Jerseys ;  a  thankful,  a  somewhat  hopeful,  and  an  ex- 
ceedingly busy  man.i 

Howe,  giving  no  names  or  details,  stated  the  British 
loss  at  about  two  hundred  and  twenty.  Washington 
reported  to  Congress  that  upwards  of  a  hundred  of  the 
enemy  were  left  dead  on  the  field,  and  that  he  had  in 
custody  near  three  hundred  prisoners,  of  whom  fourteen 
bore  commissions.  Thirty  Americans  were  returned  as 
wounded.  The  same  number  of  their  privates  were 
killed,  and  seven  of  their  officers.^  The  fighting  had 
been  so  close  and  fierce  that  a  very  large  proportion  of 
the  casualties  were  fatal ;  and  yet,  during  the  whole  of 

1  Between  the  seventh  of  January  and  the  twenty-eighth  of  May,  1777, 
every  single  one  of  Washington's  despatches  is  addressed  from  Morris- 
town. 

2  General  Mercer  lived  till  the  Sunday  week  after  the  battle,  and  suf- 
fered cruelly  up  to  the  very  last.  When  the  firing  ceased,  Washington 
shook  hands  with  Colonel  Hitchcock  at  the  head  of  the  New  England 


PRINCETON  139 

the  operations  which  had  taken  place  since  Washing- 
ton crossed  the  Delaware  on  Christmas  night,  not  two 
hundred  lives  were  sacrificed  in  both  the  armies  to- 
gether. More  often  than  enough  in  the  world's  history 
twenty  thousand  men  have  been  slaughtered  in  a  single 
battle ;  and  far  less  has  come  of  it,  at  the  moment,  or 
thereafter. 

Howe,  in  his  published  despatch,  made  very  light 
indeed  of  the  disaster  at  Princeton  ;  but  he  was  too  old 
a  soldier  to  neglect  the  lesson  which  the  events  of  the 
past  ten  days  had  taught  him.  He  at  length  perceived 
that,  so  long  as  Washington's  army  was  in  existence, 
his  own  tactics  would  have  to  be  governed  by  military, 
and  not  by  political,  considerations.  It  had  been  a 
premature  act  to  quarter  his  troops  in  detached  canton- 
ments over  an  extensive  district  for  the  purpose  of 
overawing  populations  of  doubtful  fidehty,  or  of  safe- 
guarding a  loyal  province ;  and  New  Jersey  was  no 
longer  friendly,  nor  even  neutral.  "  Howe,"  wrote  John 
Adams,  "will  repent  his  mad  march  through  the  Jer- 
seys. The  people  of  that  Commonwealth  begin  to  raise 
their  spirits  exceedingly,  and  to  be  firmer  than  ever. 
They  are  actuated  by  resentment  now ;  and  resentment 
coinciding  with  principle  is  a  very  powerful  motive."  ^ 
A  Delaware  captain,  who  was  following  the  army,  and 
who  kept  his  eyes  about  him,  prophesied  that  Jersey 
would  henceforward  be  the  most  Whiggish  colony  on 
the  Continent.  The  very  Quakers,  (he  said,)  declared 
for  taking  up  arms  ;  for  the  distress  of  the  country  was 
beyond  imagination,  and  everyone  had  been  stripped 
without  distinction.^  The  proceedings  of  the  Hessians, 
moreover,  suffered  by  contrast.  Washington's  conduct 
in  disposing  of  their  booty  has  been  faithfully  described 
by  an   honest  Tory,   who  would    have  travelled   many 

brigade,  and  thanked  him  in  the  hearing  of  his  soldiers.  The  colonel 
then  went  '|iiietly  home  to  Rhode  Island,  and  died  in  ten  days  ;  — killed 
at  Princeton,  if  his  family  cared  to  claim  that  honour. 

^  John  Adams  to  his  wife  ;    Baltimore,  February  17,  1777. 

^  Captain  Thomas  Rodney,  from  near  Princeton;  December  30,  1777. 
The  letter  is  in  the  American  Archives. 


140  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

miles  to  see  him  executed  for  a  rebel.  The  American 
commander,  (so  this  gentleman  related,)  advertised  for 
all  persons  to  come  in,  and  prove  their  property  in  the 
stolen  goods ;  and  to  all  such  as  made  out  a  title  the 
effects  were  delivered.  "  This  act  gained  him  the  hearts 
of  the  people.  It  gave  him  an  influence,  a  popularity, 
and  a  character  in  New  Jersey  of  which  he  made  the 
most  proper  use."  ^ 

The  news  of  Trenton  spread  confusion  and  perplexity 
through  all  the  townships  where  Royal  troops  were  sta- 
tioned ;  and  the  ferment  was  redoubled  when  it  became 
known  that  Washington  had  marched  across  the  rear  of 
Cornwallis,  and  had  sorely  maltreated  three  of  his  regi- 
ments.^ Sir  William  Howe's  chain  of  posts  at  once 
came  clanking  and  clattering  down.  Hackensac  and 
Elizabeth  Town,  —  in  the  very  heart  of  the  district 
which  he  had  undertaken  to  protect,  —  were  captured 
by  the  Americans,  together  with  much  baggage  and 
many  prisoners ;  a  band  of  minute-men  killed  or  took  a 
detachment  of  fifty  Waldeckers ;  and  a  score  of  New 
Jersey  light-horsemen  intercepted  a  train  of  Royal  wag- 
gons laden  with  woollen  clothing  which  was  most  accept- 
able among  the  tents  at  Morristown.  All  this  happened 
in  the  first  week  of  January  ;  and  Howe,  passing  from 
the  extreme  of  temerity  to  a  redundance  of  caution,  col- 
lected his  New  Jersey  army  of  occupation  into  two  large 
garrisons  of  five  thousand  men  apiece,  and  planted  them 
respectively  at   Brunswick   and    Perth    Amboy,   within 

^  Jones's  History  of  Neiv  York  ;  Vol.  I.,  chapter  viii.  There  are  some 
interesting  remarks,  relative  to  New  Jersey,  in  the  Annual  Register  for 
1777.  "As  soon  as  fortune  turned,"  (so  the  passage  runs,)  "and  the 
means  were  in  their  power,  the  sufferers  of  all  parties,  the  well-disposed 
to  the  Royal  cause  as  well  as  the  neutrals  and  the  wavering,  now  rose  as  a 
man  to  revenge  their  personal  injuries  and  particular  oppressions,  and, 
—  being  goaded  by  a  keener  spur  than  any  which  a  public  cause,  or 
general  motive,  could  have  excited,  —  became  its  bitterest  and  most  deter- 
mined enemies." 

^  Colonel  Enoch  Markham's  journal  supplies  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
disorder  which  prevailed  in  rear  of  the  British  lines  when  the  New  Year 
opened.  Extracts  are  given  in  the  first  Appendix  at  the  end  of  this 
volume. 


PRINCETON  141 

touch  of  each  other,  and  out  of  all  opportunity  for  strik- 
ing a  blow  against  the  enemy.  He  contented  himself 
with  securing  the  banks  of  the  Raritan  for  a  stretch  of 
ten  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  river ;  and  he  aban- 
doned all  the  rest  of  the  province  to  the  audacious  and 
indefatigable  enterprise  of  the  Revolutionary  partisans. 
The  rural  folk  put  themselves  at  the  service  of  Wash- 
ington's flying  columns  in  the  capacity  of  scouts,  mes- 
sengers, and  informants ;  ^  and  the  more  adventurous 
among  them  transacted  much  business  on  their  own 
account  at  the  expense  of  the  British  regimental  messes. 
They  surprised  convoys ;  they  cut  off  foragers ;  they 
detected  and  emptied  outlying  repositories  of  food  and 
fuel.  "  Not  a  stick  of  wood,"  we  are  told,  "not  a  spear 
of  grass,  or  a  kernel  of  corn,  could  the  troops  in  New 
Jersey  procure  without  fighting  for  it,  unless  it  was  sent 
from  New  York ;  "  and  in  New  York  nothing  grew,  and 
everything  had  to  be  fetched  from  England  or  Ireland 
at  a  vast  expense,  and  very  much  the  less  palatable  on 
account  of  the  distance  over  which  it  had  travelled.  By 
the  end  of  March  1777,  the  London  diners  learned  with 
compassion  that  their  friends  in  Sir  William  Howe's 
army  were  reduced  to  salt  provisions,  and  to  ammunition 
bread  which  notoriously  was  almost  uneatable.^  Captain 
Harris  of  the  Fifth  Foot,  —  a  valiant  trencherman,  like 
most  young  fellows  who  are  marked  out  for  eminence 
in  war  or  politics,  —  complained  that  our  reverses  had 
occasioned  such  shifting  of  quarters  as  to  render  the 
prospect  of  passing  the  winter  in  ease  and  luxury  totally 
dark ;  inasmuch  as  those  supplies  which  had  been  pro- 

1  Jones's  History  of  New  York ;  Vol.  T.,  chapter  viii. 

2  Horace  Walpole  to  the  Revd.  William  Mason  ;  Strawberry  Hill, 
March  28,  1777.  The  garrison  of  New  York,  (said  Waliujlc,)  had  not 
even,  for  a  relish  to  their  salt  beef,  the  twenty  thousand  pounds'  worth 
of  pickles  which  had  been  sent  them  when  they  were  besieged  in  Boston. 
"  It  is  highly  unpleasant,"  (so  George  the  Third  wrote  to  Lord  North 
on  New  Year's  day,  1777,)  "to  see  the  contractors  have  continued 
delivering  such  bad  biscuit  and  flour  after  the  repeated  directions  given 
by  the  Board  of  Treasury;  but  I  trust  Sir  William  Howe  is  now  in 
possession  of  so  extensive  a  country  that  he  will  not  re<iuire  to  be  entirely 
provided  frum  Murnpc." 


142  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

curable  for  money,  and  at  very  moderate  prices,  had 
now  to  be  gathered  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  and,  what 
was  worse,  with  very  great  fatigue.^ 

Sir  WilHam  Howe,  for  the  time  being,  had  lost  his 
hold  on  the  mainland  of  America ;  and  his  second  cam- 
paign, like  his  first,  had  gone  to  water.  The  most  im- 
portant results,  however,  of  Trenton  and  Princeton  were 
not  of  a  local  or  a  temporary  character.  The  permanent 
and  paramount  consequence  of  those  masterly  operations 
was  the  establishment  of  Washington's  military  reputa- 
tion, and  the  increased  weight  of  his  political  and 
administrative  authority  throughout  every  State  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  up  to  the  very  latest  hour  of  the  war. 
A  commander,  patient  and  intrepid  in  adversity,  and 
silent  under  calumny,  —  who  never  attempts  to  gloss 
over  his  reverses,  or  to  explain  away  his  mistakes,  — 
reaps  the  reward  of  his  honesty  and  self-control  tenfold, 
and  a  hundredfold,  when,  out  of  a  cloud  of  gloom  and 
peril,  success  at  length  comes.  No  one  then  questions 
the  truth  as  he  tells  it  in  his  despatches ;  men  are 
inclined  to  over-rate,  rather  than  to  depreciate  and  to 
decry,  the  advantages  he  has  gained  ;  and  few  grudge 
the  full  credit  of  victory  to  a  general  who  has  always 
accepted  the  entire  responsibility  for  failure.  The  with- 
drawal of  Sir  William  Howe  from  his  advanced  positions 
in  New  Jersey  proved  to  be,  in  the  case  of  Washington, 
what  the  retreat  of  Massena  from  before  the  lines  of 


"^  Life  of  Lord  Harris,  G.C.B.  The  distress  in  New  York  grew  ever 
more  severe  as  the  war  proceeded.  "  How  people  exist  in  this  town," 
(Lord  Carlisle  wrote,)  "  is  to  the  greatest  degree  wonderful.  All  the 
necessaries  of  life  are  dear  beyond  conception.  Meat  is  from  fifteen  to 
seventeen  pence  a  pound,  and  everything  else  in  proportion.  My  weekly 
bills  come  to  as  much  as  the  house-account  at  Castle  Howard  when  we 
have  the  most  company."  Lord  Carlisle  to  Lady  Carlisle  ;  New  York, 
September  22,  1778. 

The  contents  of  the  three  last  pages,  (in  addition  to  what  is  derived 
from  British  and  Loyalist  sources,)  are  mainly  taken  from  the  Public 
Papers  of  General  George  Clinton,  from  Heath's  Diary,  and  from 
Washington's  Correspondence.  There  is  likewise  an  important  passage 
in  a  letter  from  Robert  Morris  to  the  American  Envoys  in  Paris  of 
March  28,   1777. 


PRINCETON  143 

Torres  Vedras  was  in  relation  to  the  personal  fortunes, 
and  the  public  usefulness,  of  Wellington.  Any  more 
exact  parallel  in  the  story  of  two  exalted  careers  it  would 
be  difficult  to  name.  From  Trenton  onwards,  Washing- 
ton was  recognised  as  a  far-sighted  and  skilful  general 
all  Europe  over,  —  by  the  great  military  nobles  in  the 
Empress  Catherine's  court,  by  French  Marshals  and 
Ministers,  in  the  King's  cabinet  at  Potsdam,  at  Madrid, 
at  Vienna,  and  in  London.  He  had  shown  himself, 
(said  Horace  Walpole,)  both  a  Fabius  and  a  Camillus ; 
and  his  march  through  the  British  lines  was  allowed  to 
be  a  prodigy  of  leadership. ^  That  was  the  talk  in 
England ;  and  the  Englishman  who,  of  all  others,  most 
warmly  appreciated  Washington's  strategy  in  New 
Jersey  during  that  fortnight  of  midwinter  was  one  who 
had  had  the  very  best  opportunity  for  judging  of  it. 
After  the  capitulation  at  Yorktown,  in  October  1781,  a 
dinner  was  given  at  the  American  head-quarters  to  the 
principal  officers  in  the  British,  the  French,  and  the  Con- 
tinental armies.  Cornwallis,  —  exaggerating  to  himself, 
it  may  be,  the  obligations  of  old-fashioned  courtesy  and 
chivalry,  —  took  his  seat  at  the  board,  and  responded 
thus  to  a  toast  which  Washington  had  proposed.  "When 
the  illustrious  part  that  your  Excellency  has  borne  in 
this  long  and  arduous  contest  becomes  matter  of  history, 
fame  will  gather  your  brightest  laurels  rather  from  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware  than  from  those  of  the  Chesa- 
peake." At  that  moment,  and  before  that  audience, 
Washington's  generalship  in  the  Chesapeake  campaign 
must  have  represented  an  exceptionally  high  standard 
of  comparison. 

In  such  estimation  was  Washington  held  by  foreigners, 
whether  they  were  declared  enemies,  or  benevolent  neu- 
trals, or  potential  and  probable  allies ;  and  he  thence- 
forward had  all  his  own  countrymen  for  admirers, 
except  those  very  few  who  did  not  as  yet  altogether 
renounce  the  ambition  of  being  popularly  regarded  as 
his   rivals.     The  enhanced  influence  which  he  derived 

1  Walpole  to  Mann  ;   Strawberry  Hill,  April  3,  1777. 


144  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

from  prosperity  came  at  the  precise  conjuncture  when 
that  influence  could  be  utilised  with  the  greatest  pos- 
sible effect.  On  the  twentieth  of  December  he  had 
addressed  to  the  President  of  Congress  a  long  and 
earnest  exposition  of  the  evils  arising  from  the  plan 
of  short  enlistments  in  the  Continental  armies ;  from  a 
low  average  of  professional  capacity  in  the  commissioned 
ranks ;  from  the  weakness  of  the  artillery,  and  the  en- 
tire absence  of  cavalry  and  of  scientific  officers.  Con- 
gress, in  reply,  invested  him  with  "  full,  ample,  and 
complete  powers  "  to  raise  sixteen  additional  battalions 
of  infantry,  three  thousand  light-horse,  three  regiments 
of  artillery,  and  a  corps  of  engineers ;  to  call  upon 
any  of  the  States  for  such  aid  of  the  militia  as  he  should 
deem  necessary ;  to  displace  and  appoint  all  officers 
beneath  the  rank  of  Brigadier ;  to  take,  at  a  fair  price, 
all  supplies  of  provisions,  or  articles  of  equipment, 
which  he  might  require  for  the  use  of  the  army ;  and 
to  arrest,  confine,  and  send  for  trial  in  the  Civil  Courts, 
any  persons  whatsoever  who  were  disaffected  to  the 
American  cause.  This  dictatorship,  —  for  it  was  noth- 
ing less,  —  was  extended  over  the  old  Roman  period  of 
six  months ;  and  Congress  specifically  announced  that 
the  step  was  taken  in  perfect  reliance  on  the  wisdom, 
the  vigour,  and  the  uprightness  of  General  Washington. 
It  was  handsomely  worded  ;  but  the  force  of  the  compli- 
ment lay  not  so  much  in  the  phrasing,  as  in  the  timing, 
of  the  Resolution.  Although  a  final  decision  was  not 
taken  until  the  day  after  Trenton,  Washington's  letter 
had  been  read  and  considered,  and  a  committee  had 
been  appointed  to  prepare  an  answer,  before  the  issue 
of  that  battle  was  known  in  Baltimore.  Such  an  ex- 
pression of  confidence,  unstintedly  and  unanimously 
accorded  during  the  closing  hours  of  the  very  darkest 
season  in  American  history,  will  remain  on  record 
through  all  ages  as  a  tribute  to  the  man,  and  not  to 
his  fortune. 

That  fortune  had  now  turned.     After  a  year  and  a 
half's  intense  and  continual  study  of  Sir  William  Howe, 


PRINCETON  145 

Washington  had  read  his  character,  and  understood  his 
ways.  Divining  with  certainty  that  the  British  genera] 
would  leave  him  in  peace  during  the  rest  of  the  winter 
and  well  forward  into  the  spring,  he  set  himself  calmly 
to  the  task  of  reinforcing  and  remaking  the  Continental 
army.  Congress,  acting  on  his  advice,  had  sanctioned 
the  enlistment  of  soldiers  for  a  term  of  three  years,  or 
for  the  duration  of  the  war ;  and  the  sixteen  new  battal- 
ions were  to  be  formed  of  men  taken  indiscriminately 
from  all  or  any  of  the  States.  The  last  provision  was 
much  to  the  mind  of  Washington,  who,  (to  use  his  own 
language,)  had  laboured  to  discourage  all  kinds  of  local 
attachments  and  distinctions  throughout  the  army,  "  de- 
nominating the  whole  by  the  greater  name  of  American."  ^ 
That  sentiment,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Revolution,  was 
not  congenial  to  the  national  tastes  and  temperament. 
In  the  view  of  a  New  Englander,  or  a  Pennsylvanian, 
the  ideal  regiment  was  a  provincial  corps  where  he  was 
at  home  among  friends  and  neighbours ;  where  disci- 
pline was  loose,  and  furloughs  might  be  had  for  the 
asking,  or  even  for  the  taking ;  and  where  the  period 
of  service  was  terminable  within  the  twelvemonth.  Pre- 
viously to  Trenton  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
exact  the  strict  conditions  indispensable  for  the  solidity 
of  a  regular  army ;  but  the  name  of  Washington  was 
now  endowed  with  a  power  to  inspire  and  attract  his 
younger  fellow-countrymen  ;  and  he  succeeded  in  en- 
gaging a  considerable  supply,  although  not  a  sufficiency, 
of  recruits  who  bound  themselves  to  see  the  war  through. 
If  they  came  in  slowly,  they  came  steadily ;  and  those 
who  presented  themselves  were  for  the  most  part  well 
worth  retaining. 

Washington  still  had  plenty  of  room  in  his  ranks  for 
privates ;  but  the  case  was  otherwise  with  regard  to  his 
officers.  The  muster-rolls  showed  a  superfluity  of  cap- 
tains and  lieutenants,  and  a  veritable  glut  of  colonels. 
There  were  good  and  bad  among  them  ;  but  their  indi- 

^  Washington  to  the  President  of  Congress ;  Camp  above  Trenton 
Falls,  December  20,   1776. 

VOL.  III.  L 


146  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

vidual  worth  had  been  severely  and  decisively  tested  on 
Long  Island  and  at  White  Plains,  in  the  Jersey  retreat, 
and  amid  the  hardships  of  the  Canadian  expedition. 
Washington  had  an  intimate  personal  acquaintance  with 
those  brigades  which  he  had  led  in  battle ;  he  knew  for 
himself  whether  an  officer  sought,  or  shunned,  work  and 
danger ;  and  he  spared  no  pains  to  ascertain  the  merits 
and  defects  of  those  who  had  served  in  distant  parts  of 
the  Continent  under  other  generals.^  Absolute  trust 
was  reposed  in  his  justice  and  impartiality  ;  his  authority 
no  one  ventured  to  dispute  ;  and  there  seldom,  or  never, 
has  been  a  fairer  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  that  un- 
flinching and  enhghtened  selection  which  is  the  key- 
stone of  warlike  efficiency.  The  labour  of  reorganisation 
was  carried  forward  under  dire  pressure ;  but  it  was  not 
scamped  or  hurried.  Before  the  end  of  the  ensuing 
summer  a  very  censorious  critic  was  at  his  post  of 
observation  when  the  American  Commander-in-Chief 
marched  down  the  main  street  of  Philadelphia  at  the 
head  of  nine  or  ten  thousand  of  his  troops.  Though 
indifferently  dressed,  (so  this  witness  remarked,)  they 
held  well-burnished  arms,  and  carried  them  like  soldiers  ; 
and  they  looked  as  if  they  might  have  faced  an  equal 
number  of  their  redoubtable  adversaries  with  a  reasonable 
prospect  of  success.^     That  opinion  was  justified,  in  the 

^  The  American  Archives  contain  a  curious  report  to  the  New  York 
Convention,  made  at  the  close  of  1776  by  a  committee  appointed  for  the 
purpose  of  revising  the  list  of  officers  in  the  State  Contingent.  The  work 
was  done  conscientiously  and  rigidly;  and  some  of  the  entries  are  in  re- 
markably plain  and  unvarnished  English.  "  Not  so  careful  and  attentive 
as  could  be  wished."  "  A  sober  officer,  but  rather  too  old."  "  Too  heavy 
and  inactive  for  an  officer."  "Too  heavy  and  illiterate  for  an  officer." 
"  Of  too  rough  a  make  for  an  officer ;  better  qualified  for  the  Navy  than 
the  Army."  "  A  very  low-lived  fellow."  "  A  good  officer,  but  of  a  sickly 
constitution,  and  had  better  quit  the  service."  *'  Wanting  in  authority  to 
make  a  good  officer.  He  has  deceived  the  Convention  by  enlisting  the 
men  for  six  and  nine  months,  instead  of  during  the  war."  "These  three 
lieutenants  wish  to  decline  the  service.  They  will  be  no  loss  to  it." 
Many  of  the  names  are  noted  as  excellent,  creditable,  and  promising  ;  but 
it  is  evident  that  there  had  been  little  time  to  pick  and  choose  among  the 
candidates  for  commissions  during  the  stress  and  hurry  which  accompanied 
the  outbreak  of  hostilities. 

*  Pennsylvanian  Memoirs  ;  chapter  xii. 


'  PRINCETON  147 

five  years  which  were  to  come,  by  a  long  series  of 
battles  honourably  lost,  or  arduously  won.  The  military 
force  which  Washington  brought  into  shape  at  Morris- 
town, —  waxing  or  waning  in  numbers,  but  constantly 
improving  in  quality,  —  followed  him  obediently,  reso- 
lutely, and  devotedly  as  long  as  their  country  had 
occasion  for  a  general  and  an  army. 


1.2 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

FEARS  FOR  ENGLISH  LIBERTY.   THE  NEWSPAPERS. 
NORTH  AND  SOUTH  BRITAIN 

The  events,  which  took  place  during  those  stirring 
months  in  the  regions  watered  by  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson  rivers,  form  a  plain  and  straightforward  nar- 
rative ;  but  the  story  of  what  was  passing  in  Eng- 
land is  more  complicated,  and  far  more  difficult  to 
tell.  For  that  was  no  affair  of  marches  and  counter- 
marches, of  skirmishes,  and  panics,  and  surprises.  The 
conflict  there  was  in  the  senate,  the  market-place,  and 
the  newspaper ;  in  the  interior  of  every  household,  and 
within  the  breast  of  every  thinking  citizen.  Before  the 
year  1777  was  six  weeks  old  it  became  plain  that  the 
hour  had  arrived  when  it  was  incumbent  upon  all  men  to 
form  an  opinion  of  their  own,  to  profess  it  frankly,  and 
to  abide  by  it  courageously.  Up  to  this  time  many  had 
concerned  themselves  but  little  with  the  rights  and 
wrongs  of  the  quarrel,  or  with  the  expediency  of  an 
appeal  to  arms.  The  Government,  which  was  supposed 
to  know,  had  proclaimed  that  the  colonists  were  con- 
temptible as  antagonists,  that  the  war  would  be  short 
and  cheap,  and  that  the  cost  of  it  would  very  soon  be 
covered,  several  times  over,  by  the  produce  of  taxes 
which  Americans  would  never  again  refuse  to  pay  when 
once  they  had  been  well  beaten ;  and  quiet  people,  who 
liked  being  governed,  had  believed  the  Government. 
Some,  indeed,  among  the  Peers  and  members  of  Parlia- 
ment who  supported  the  Cabinet  had  long  ago  admitted 
to  each  other,  in  whispers  and  sealed  letters,  that  they  had 
begun  to  be  desperately  uneasy.  "  Administration," 
(wrote  Lord  Carlisle  to  George  Selwyn  as  early  as  the 

148 


FEARS  FOR  ENGLISH  LIBERTY  149 

winter  of  1775,)  "is  in  a  great  scrape.  Their  measures 
never  can  succeed.  We,  who  have  voted  for  them,  have 
a  right  to  complain  ;  for  they  have  deceived  us,  and,  I 
suppose,  themselves."  ^  The  same  disheartening  con- 
viction was  now  brought  home  to  every  private  individual 
who  could  spare  five  minutes  a  day  to  the  consideration 
of  public  affairs.  After  eight  years  of  military  occu- 
pation, and  twenty-one  months  of  very  hard  fighting, 
America  was  far  from  being  conquered,  and  farther  yet 
from  being  convinced  that  her  interest  lay  in  submission 
to  the  demands  of  the  British  Parliament. 

The  situation  was  clearly  understood,  and  temperately 
but  unanswerably  exposed,  by  discerning  onlookers  in 
either  country.  An  American  Whig,  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  the  prospects  of  his  own  cause  were  dark- 
est, made  a  cool  and  careful  estimate  of  the  English 
chances.  "  Their  whole  hope  of  success,"  he  said,  "  de- 
pends upon  frequent  and  decisive  victories,  gained  before 
our  army  is  disciplined.  The  expense  of  feeding  and 
paying  great  fleets  and  armies,  at  such  a  distance,  is  too 
enormous  for  any  nation  on  earth  to  bear  for  a  great 
while.  It  is  said  that  ninety  thousand  tons  of  shipping 
are  employed  in  their  service  constantly,  at  thirteen 
shillings  and  four  pence  a  ton  per  month.  When  our 
soldiers  are  enlisted  for  the  war,  discipline  must  daily 
increase.  Our  army  can  be  recruited  after  a  defeat, 
while  our  enemies  must  cross  the  Atlantic  to  repair  a 
misfortune.  Have  we  felt  a  tenth  part  of  the  hardships 
the  States  of  Holland  suffered  at  the  hands  of  Spain  ; 
or  does  our  case  look  half  so  difficult.-'  States  are  not 
conquered  by  victories.  After  a  succession  of  splendid 
victories  obtained  over  France  by  the  Duke  of  Marlbor- 
ough, in  each  of  which  more  men  were  slain  than  in  the 
whole  of  this  war,  still  that  kingdom  made  a  formidable 
resistance,  and  obtained  an  honourable  peace."  ^ 

'  George  Sehvyn  and  his  Contemporaries ;  Vol.  III.,  page  1 14,  of  the 
Ivlition  of  1844. 

-American  newspaper  article  of  December  24,  1776;  signed  "Perse- 
verance." 


I50  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

That  was  written  in  December  i  yj^,  when  all  the  vic- 
tories which  hitherto  marked  the  campaign  had  been 
scored  by  the  British.  After  Trenton  and  Princeton 
were  fought,  and  Howe  had  retired  from  the  Jerseys, 
the  same  views  were  yet  more  powerfully  enforced  by  a 
Londoner.  "  The  small  scale  of  our  maps  deceived  us ; 
and,  as  the  word  *  America '  takes  up  no  more  room  than 
the  word  '  Yorkshire,'  we  seem  to  think  the  territories 
they  represent  are  much  of  the  same  bigness ;  though 
Charleston  is  as  far  from  Boston  as  London  from  Venice. 
Braddock  might  tell  the  difficulties  of  this  loose,  rugged 
country,  were  he  Hving.  Amherst  might  still  do  it.  Yet 
these  officers  found  a  willing  people  to  help  them,  and 
General  Howe  finds  nothing  willing.  We  have  under- 
taken a  war  against  farmers  and  farmhouses,  scattered 
through  a  wild  waste  of  continent,  and  shall  soon  hear 
of  our  General  being  obliged  to  garrison  woods,  to  scale 
mountains,  to  wait  for  boats  and  pontoons  at  rivers,  and 
to  have  his  convoys  and  escorts  as  large  as  armies.  These, 
and  a  thousand  such  difficulties,  will  rise  on  us  at  the 
next  stage  of  the  war,  I  say  the  next  stage,  because  we 
have  hitherto  spent  one  campaign,  and  some  millions,  in 
losing  one  landing-place  at  Boston ;  and,  at  the  charge 
of  seven  millions  and  a  second  campaign,  we  have  re- 
placed it  with  two  other  landing-places  at  Rhode  Island 
and  New  York.  I  am  entirely  of  opinion  with  Voltaire 
that  every  great  conqueror  must  be  a  great  politician. 
Something  more  is  required,  than  the  mere  mechanical 
business  of  fighting,  in  composing  revolts  and  bringing 
back  things  to  their  former  order."  ^ 

The  keenest  eye  in  Europe  already  foresaw  the  inevi- 
table issue.  Frederic  of  Prussia  had  won  and  lost  many 
battles,  and  had  learned  not  to  over-rate  the  importance 
of  any  single  defeat  or  victory.  He  had  followed  Wash- 
ington, through  the  vicissitudes  of  the  protracted  strug- 
gle, with  the  insight  and  sympathy  of  one  who  himself 
had  striven  against  fearful  odds  ;  who  had  committed 
grievous  mistakes,  and  had  profited  by  his  lesson ;  and 

1  Letter  from  London  of  February  1777. 


FEARS  FOR  ENGLISH  LIBERTY  1 57 

who  had  at  length  emerged,  secure  and  successful,  from 
a  flood  of  war  in  which  both  friends  and  enemies,  for 
years  together,  felt  assured  that  nothing  could  save  him 
from  being  overwhelmed.  With  such  an  experience  he 
did  not  need  to  wait  for  Saratoga  and  Yorktown  in  order 
to  be  convinced  that  Great  Britain  had  involved  herself 
in  a  hopeless  task.  All  the  information  which  he  had 
received,  (so  he  wrote  in  the  first  half  of  March  1777,) 
went  to  show  that  the  colonies  would  attain,  and  keep, 
their  independence.^  That  was  how  the  future  was  re- 
garded by  the  greatest  warrior  of  the  age  ;  and  the  facts 
of  the  case,  as  he  knew  them,  were  the  property  of  all 
the  world.  Civilians,  who  had  never  seen  a  cannon  fired, 
but  who  could  use  their  common  sense,  had  plenty  of 
material  on  which  to  build  an  estimate  of  the  military 
probabilities.  Abundant  and  most  discouraging  intelli- 
gence appeared  in  private  letters  from  officers  in 
America,  which  were  freely  published  in  the  English 
journals ;  and  even  those  who  took  in  the  "  London 
Gazette,"  and  no  other  newspaper,  might  find  very  seri- 
ous matter  for  reflection  as  they  read  between  the  lines 
of  Sir  William  Howe's  despatches. 

There  was,  however,  an  aspect  of  the  question  which 
occupied  and  concerned  our  ancestors  far  more  deeply 
than  any  purely  military  considerations.  It  must  never 
be  forgotten  that  many  EngHshmen  from  the  first,  —  and 
in  the  end  a  decided,  and  indeed  a  very  large,  majority 
among  them,  —  regarded  the  contest  which  was  being 
fought  out  in  America  not  as  a  foreign  war,  but  as  a 
civil  war  in  which  English  liberty  was  the  stake.  They 
held  that  a  policy  had  been  deliberately  initiated,  and 
during  half  a  generation  had  been  resolutely  pursued,  of 
which  the  avowed  object  was  to  make  the  Royal  power 
dominant  in  the  State  ;  and  the  historians  in  highest 
repute,  who  since  have  treated  of  those  times,  unreserv- 
edly maintain  the  same  view.  That  policy  had  now  pre- 
vailed ;  and  Personal  Government,  from  a  mischievous 
theory,  had  grown  into  a  portentous  reality.     The  vic- 

1  Le  Roi  Frederic  au  Comte  de  Maltzan  ;   Potsdam,  13  mars,  1777. 


152  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

tory  of  the  Crown  had  been  preceded  by  an  epoch  oi 
continuous  and  bitter  strife,  every  stage  in  which  was 
marked  by  deplorable  incidents.  The  publication  through 
the  press  of  opinions  obnoxious  to  the  Court  had  been 
punished  with  unsparing  severity.  The  right  of  con- 
stituents to  elect  a  person  of  their  choice  had  been  de- 
nied in  words,  and  repeatedly  violated  in  practice.  The 
benches  of  the  Lords  and  the  Commons  swarmed  with 
an  ever  increasing  band  of  placemen  and  pensioners 
subsidised  by  the  King  ;  and  these  gentlemen  well  knew 
the  work  which  their  paymaster  expected  of  them.  Their 
vocation  was  to  harass  any  minister  who  conceived  that 
he  owed  a  duty  to  the  people  as  well  as  to  the  Sov- 
ereign ;  and  to  betray  and  ruin  him  if  he  proved  incor- 
rigible in  his  notions  of  patriotism.  The  most  famous 
English  statesmen,  —  all,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  who 
are  now  remembered  with  pride  by  Englishmen  of  every 
party, — were  shut  out  from  the  opportunity,  and  even 
from  the  hope,  of  office;  and  our  national  qualities  of 
manliness  and  independence  had  come  to  be  a  standing 
disqualification  for  employment  in  the  nation's  service. 
At  last  the  Cabinet  had  picked  a  quarrel  with  the  colo- 
nies over  the  very  same  question  which  convulsed  Eng- 
land in  the  days  of  Strafford  and  the  ship-money.  In 
order  to  vindicate  the  doctrine  that  taxation  might  be 
imposed  without  representation,  the  servants  of  the 
Crown,  or  rather  its  bondsmen,  (for  the  Prime  Minister, 
and  the  most  respectable  of  his  colleagues,  were  in  this 
matter  acting  under  compulsion,  and  against  their  con- 
sciences,) had  undertaken  to  coerce  the  communities  in 
America  with  fire  and  sword,  and  to  visit  individuals  with 
the  extreme  penalties  of  rebellion.  It  followed,  as  a 
natural  and  certain  consequence,  that  the  party,  which 
resented  the  encroachments  of  the  Crown  at  home,  sin- 
cerely and  universally  entertained  a  belief  which  influ- 
enced their  whole  view  of  the  colonial  controversy.  That 
belief  had  been  placed  on  record,  in  quiet  but  expressive 
language,  by  a  nobleman  who,  in  his  honoured  age,  lived 
among  us  as  the  last  of  the  old  Whigs.     Lord  Albemarle 


FEARS  FOR  ENGLISH  LIBERTY  1 53 

distinctly  states  that  in  1 774,  and  for  some  years  after- 
wards, the  Opposition  were  possessed  by  "  a  deep  and 
well-grounded  conviction  that,  if  despotism  were  once 
established  in  America,  arbitrary  government  would  at 
least  be  attempted  in  the  mother-country."  ^ 

Those  apprehensions  were  shared  by  men  whose 
judgement  cannot  lightly  be  set  aside,  and  the  strength 
of  whose  patriotism  was  many  degrees  above  proof. 
Chatham,  when  he  spoke  in  public,  dwelt  mainly  upon 
the  rights  of  the  colonists,  the  duty  of  England,  and  the 
appaUing  mihtary  dangers  which  would  result  to  the 
Empire  if  those  rights  were  invaded  and  that  duty  ig- 
nored. With  the  instinct  of  a  great  orator,  he  did  not 
willingly  introduce  fresh  debateable  matter  into  a  con- 
troversy where  he  had  so  many  sufficient  and  self-evident 
arguments  ready  to  his  hand  ;  but  his  private  correspond- 
ence clearly  indicates  that  the  keenness  of  his  emotion, 
and  the  warmth  of  his  advocacy,  were  closely  connected 
with  a  profound  belief  that,  if  America  were  subjugated, 
Britain  would  not  long  be  free.  Would  to  Heaven,  (he 
wrote,)  that  England  was  not  doomed  to  bind  round  her 
own  hands,  and  wear  patiently,  the  chains  which  she 
was  forging  for  her  colonies  !  And  then  he  quoted,  with 
telling  effect,  the  passage  in  which  Juvenal  described 
how  the  spread  of  servility  among  the  Roman  people, 
and  the  corruption  of  their  pubhc  spirit,  avenged  the 
wrongs  of  the  subject  world  upon  the  conquerors  them- 
selves. ^ 

The  fears  which  Chatham  acknowledged  were  con- 
fessed likewise  by  the  only  man,  then  alive,  whose 
authority  stands  on  a  level  with  his  own.  In  the  early 
spring  of  1777  Burke  affirmed  that  the  American  war 
had  done  more  in  a  very  few  years,  than  all  other  causes 
could  have  done  in  a  century,  to  prepare  the  minds  of 

1  Those  words  are  found  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  the  second  volume  of 
Lord  Rockingham's  Memoirs.  Lord  Albemarle,  who  had  played  trap-ball 
with  Charles  Fox,  lived  to  hold  an  extemporised  levee  of  London  society 
on  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of  the  day  when  he  carried  the  colours  on 
to  the  field  of  Waterloo. 

2  The  Earl  of  Chatham  to  Mr.  Sheriff  Sayre  ;    Hayes,  August  28,  1774- 


154  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  English  people  for  the  mtroduction  of  arbitrary  gov- 
ernment. The  successive  steps  of  the  process,  by  which 
that  result  was  being  brought  about,  are  set  forth  in  the 
last  five  paragraphs  of  the  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bris- 
tol with  the  fullness  and  exactness  of  a  political  philoso- 
pher, and  the  incisive  vigour  of  a  practical  statesman. 
Those  paragraphs,  indeed,  are  too  long  to  quote ;  and  it 
would  be  a  literary  crime  to  abridge  or  to  paraphrase 
them ;  but  the  conclusions  at  which  Burke  had  arrived 
are  more  briefly  and  roughly  stated  in  a  couple  of  sen- 
tences wherein  he  thus  commented  on  the  American 
rebellion.  "  We  cannot,"  he  wrote,  "  amidst  the  excesses 
and  abuses  which  have  happened,  help  respecting  the 
spirit  and  principles  operating  in  these  commotions. 
Those  principles  bear  so  close  a  resemblance  to  those 
which  support  the  most  valuable  part  of  our  constitu- 
tion, that  we  cannot  think  of  extirpating  them  in  any 
part  of  His  Majesty's  dominions  without  admitting  con- 
sequences, and  establishing  precedents,  the  most  dan- 
gerous to  the  liberties  of  this  kingdom."  ^ 

Horace  Walpole,  with  whom  the  chief  men  of  both 
parties  freely  conversed,  had  no  doubt  whither  the  road 
led  which  the  stronger,  and  the  worse,  members  of  the 
Cabinet  joyfully  followed ;  and  down  which  the  less 
perverse,  and  the  more  timid,  were  irresistibly  driven. 
He  never  was  easy  about  the  political  future  of  his 
country,  until  North's  Government  fell,  and  the  danger 
disappeared.  During  the  winter  when  Howe  and 
Washington  were  contending  in  the  Jerseys,  Walpole 
complained  that  his  life  at  present  consisted  in  being 
wished  joy  over  the  defeat  and  slaughter  of  fellow- 
countrymen,  who  were  fighting  for  his  liberty  as  well 
as  for  their  own.  Thirty  months  afterwards  he  spoke 
still  more  gloomily.     It  was  bad  enough,  (he  said,)  to 

1  The  manuscript,  which  is  in  Mr.  Burke's  handwriting,  is  thus  dock- 
eted by  the  fourth  Earl  Fitzwilliam  :  "  Probably  this  was  intended  as  an 
amendment  to  the  Address  to  be  moved  after  the  campaign  of  1776."  In 
that  case,  the  paper  must  have  been  drafted  at  the  precise  point  of  time 
which  this  narrative  has  now  reached. 


FEARS  FOR  ENGLISH  LIBERTY  155 

be  at  war  with  France  and  Spain  because  we  would  not 
be  content  to  let  America  send  us  half  the  wealth  of 
the  world  in  her  own  way,  instead  of  in  the  way  that 
pleased  George  Grenville  and  Charles  Townshend.  But 
the  subversion  of  a  happy  Constitution,  by  the  hands  of 
domestic  enemies,  was  a  worse  fate  than  any  which  we 
could  suffer  from  the  foreigner ;  and  that  fate,  unless 
the  nation  recovered  its  senses,  only  too  surely  awaited 
us.  Walpole  emphatically  declared  that  the  freedom  of 
England  had  become  endangered,  and  her  glory  began 
to  decline,  from  the  moment  that  she  "  ran  wild  after  a 
phantasm  of  absolute  power  "  over  colonies  whose  liberty 
was  the  source  of  her  own  greatness.^ 

It  was  an  ominous  circumstance  that  the  Jacobites 
and  the  Nonjurors  were  open-mouthed  against  America, 
and,  one  and  all,  were  ardent  supporters  of  the  war. 
The  members  of  that  party,  which  professed  the  doctrine 
of  passive  obedience,  had  transferred  their  allegiance 
to  George  the  Third,  honestly  and  undisguisedly,  from 
the  moment  that  he  made  manifest  his  intention  to 
select  his  own  ministers  and  govern  for  himself.  They 
stood  by  the  Court,  (as  readers  of  Junius  are  aware,) 
throughout  every  turn  of  the  conflict  which  raged 
around  the  Middlesex  Election.  They  were  frequently 
taunted,  in  very  good  prose  and  extremely  poor  verse, 
with  having  deserted  the  shrine  of  their  ancient  loyalty ; 
but  the  course  of  action  which  they  adopted  was  to  the 
credit  of  their  common-sense  and  their  consistency.  The 
Jacobites  of  1775  were  not  dreamers,  nor  dilettantes. 
Only  half  a  life-time  before  that  date  they  had  been  for- 
midable enough  to  shake  the  State  to  the  very  founda- 
tion ;  and,  now  that  they  had  suited  themselves  to  their 
altered  circumstances,  they  were  a  redoubtable  party 
again.  Men  who  had  been  Jacobites  in  their  youth, 
and  who  were  the  friends  of  arbitrary  government  .still, 
constituted  a  strong   minority  in  the   Corporations  of 

1  Walpole  to  the  Countess  of  Ossory,  Jan.  26,  1777.  Walpole  to  Sir 
Horace  Mann,  June  16,  1779;  and  to  the  Countess  of  Ossory,  June  22, 
1779. 


156  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

some  towns,  and  a  majority  among  the  Justices  of  the 
Peace  on  not  a  few  Petty  Sessional  benches  in  the 
northern  counties.  They  did  not  amuse  themselves 
with  a  ritual  of  wreaths  and  rosettes,  or  trouble  them- 
selves about  the  Christian  name  of  the  monarch  whose 
health  they  drank.  Their  creed  was  a  serious  and 
genuine  devotion  to  the  principles  in  accord  with 
which  they  thought  that  the  country  ought  to  be  ad- 
ministered. If  they  could  not  have  a  Stuart,  they  were 
willing  to  accept  a  Hanoverian  who  pursued  the  Stuart 
policy ;  and  they  were  quite  ready  to  put  their  money 
on  the  White  Horse,  so  long  as  he  galloped  in  what 
they  conceived  to  be  the  right  direction.  When  once 
the  American  war  broke  out,  it  became  evident  to  them 
that  there  were  no  lengths  to  which  the  King  was  not 
prepared  to  go :  and  there  were  most  certainly  none 
to  which  they  themselves  would  not  eagerly  follow.^ 
Testimony  to  that  effect  was  given  by  a  witness  who 
knew,  as  well  as  anybody,  what  the  Jacobites  were 
thinking.  In  one  of  the  last  letters  which  he  wrote, 
David  Hume,  with  the  solemnity  of  a  dying  man,  prophe- 
sied that,  if  the  Court  carried  the  day  in  America,  the 
English  Constitution  would  infallibly  perish.^ 

Historians,  who  understand  their  business,  when 
seeking  to  ascertain  the  trend  of  national  opinion  at 
any  crisis  in  our  history,  have  always  laid  stress  upon 
the  confidential  reports  of  foreign  emissaries  accredited 
to    St.    James's,    and    on    the   conclusions   which   were 

1  "The  Scots  address  and  fight  now  with  as  much  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
the  House  of  Brunswick  as  they  did,  during  the  last  reigns,  in  that  of  the 
House  of  vStuart.  This  proves  that  it  is  not  the  name,  hut  the  cause,  for 
which  they  fight.  The  Scots  are  in  hopes  that  extinguishing  the  very 
name  of  English  liberty  in  America  will  secure  the  destruction  of  the 
constitution  in  old  England.  In  the  present  auspicious  reign  they  thinlc 
themselves  nearer  the  completion  of  their  wishes,  and  are  therefore  more 
insolent,  and  more  ardent,  in  the  pursuit."  Extract  from  the  Gazetteer 
and  Ne7v  Daily  Advertiser  of  1776. 

2  Histoire  de  V Action  Commune  de  la  France  et  de  V Amerique  pour 
I' Independance  des  Atats-Unis,  par  George  Bancroft  :  Tome  HI.,  page 
200.  The  Paris  version  of  this  work  is  described  as  "Traduil  et  annote 
par  le  Comte  Adolphe  de  Circourt  ;   accompagne  de  Documents  Inedits." 


FEARS  FOR  ENGLISH  LIBERTY  I  57 

borne  in  upon  the  mind  of  the  potentate  to  whom  those 
reports  were  addressed.  Our  knowledge  of  English 
feeling,  during  the  years  that  preceded  our  own  Great 
Revolution,  is  largely  derived  from  the  secret  corre- 
spondence of  the  French  Ambassador  at  the  Court  of 
James  the  Second  ;  and,  in  like  manner,  the  correspond- 
ence of  the  Prussian  Minister  in  London,  at  the  time 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  throws  an  impor- 
tant light  upon  British  politics.  Indeed,  of  the  two 
diplomatists,  Frederic  the  Great's  envoy  is  the  safer 
guide.  The  Count  de  Maltzan  was  better  qualified  to 
distinguish  between  material  facts,  and  party  gossip, 
than  de  Barillon,  who  habitually  dabbled  in  political 
intrigues  at  Westminster  ;  and  Frederic,  in  a  very  differ- 
ent degree  from  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  was  an  employer 
to  whom  it  was  much  less  safe  to  tell  a  doctored  and 
flattering  tale  than  a  disagreeable  truth. 

Frederic  had  observed  every  turn  of  the  constitu- 
tional struggle  in  England  as  closely  as  he  watched  the 
variation  in  numbers  of  the  Austrian  or  Russian  armies, 
and  with  as  good  cause;  and  he  now  was  firmly  per- 
suaded that  the  fears  of  Burke  and  Chatham  with 
regard  to  the  precarious  condition  of  our  public  liberty 
were  not  exaggerated.  It  might  have  been  supposed 
that  the  prospect  would  have  left  him  indifferent ;  for 
assuredly  he  had  no  desire  to  set  up  a  Parliamentary 
opposition  at  Berlin,  or  convert  his  own  Kingdom  into 
a  limited  monarchy.  But  he  was  in  the  habit  of  look- 
ing to  results;  and,  in  his  eyes,  the  suitable  form  of 
government  for  any  country  was  that,  and  only  that, 
which  produced  strong  and  capable  administration. 
The  England,  which  Frederic  the  Great  desired  to  see, 
was  an  England  taking  a  continuous  and  intelligent 
interest  in  Continental  movements;  commanding  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  her  neighbours ;  and  able, 
with  all  her  enormous  resources  well  in  hand,  to  make 
her  influence  decisively  felt.  But,  under  her  then  rulers, 
our  country  was  a  cipher  in  Europe ;  distracted  by 
internal  dissension,  and   spending  in  a  foolish  quarrel 


158  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

with  her  own  colonies  the  strength  which  had  so 
recently  made  her  the  arbitress  of  the  world,  and 
which, — at  the  rate  that  she  was  lavishing  men,  money, 
and  reputation,  —  might  soon  be  hardly  sufficient  for 
the  protection  of  her  own  coasts  and  arsenals. 

Frederic,  moreover,  had  a  special  grudge  of  his  own 
against  the  system  of  government  which  had  of  late 
been  inaugurated  in  England.  That  nation,  under  the 
inspiration  of  Lord  Chatham,  —  the  statesman  who  now 
was  the  prime  assertor  of  its  imperilled  liberties,  —  had 
fought  the  earlier  campaigns  of  the  Seven  Years'  War 
side  by  side  with  Prussia,  and  had  helped  her,  in  her 
dire  extremity,  with  a  supply  of  British  gold  which  was 
only  less  welcome  than  the  assistance  of  the  British 
sword.  But  when  George  the  Third  ascended  the 
throne,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  get  a  minister  to  his 
mind,  he  tore  up  that  glorious  treaty  of  alliance  ;  stopped 
the  payment  of  a  subsidy  which  to  the  English  Treas- 
ury was  a  pittance,  but  which  seemed  a  mountain  of 
wealth  to  the  thrifty  Prussian  War  Office ;  and,  in  the 
hottest  moment  of  the  chase,  threw  Frederic  over  to 
the  wolves.  Those  wolves,  in  the  end,  found  him  a 
tough  morsel ;  but  he  never  even  pretended  to  forget 
that  the  first  overt  act  of  Personal  Government  in  Eng- 
land had  been  to  play  him  a  trick  which  came  very 
near  to  be  his  ruin.  Detestation  of  Lord  Bute,  and  of 
Lord  Bute's  Royal  patron,  and  a  very  genuine  love  and 
admiration  for  Chatham,  rendered  the  Prussian  King 
an  earnest  and  far-seeing  friend  of  British  constitu- 
tional freedom.  If  the  nation,  (such  was  the  tenor  of 
his  predictions,)  allowed  the  Sovereign  to  act  according 
to  his  good  pleasure,  and  abandoned  the  colonies  to  the 
lot  which  he  destined  for  them,  that  lot  would  sooner  or 
later  be  shared  by  England ;  for  the  policy  of  George 
the  Third  was  the  same  everywhere,  and  he  was  pur- 
suing despotic  courses  in  all  portions  of  his  dominions. 
"  It  appears,"  Frederic  wrote,  "from  all  I  hear,  that  the 
ancient  British  spirit  has  almost  entirely  eclipsed  itself, 
and  that  everything  tends  to  a  change  in  the  form  of 


FEARS  FOR  ENGLISH  LIBERTY  1 59 

government,  so  that  the  old  constitution  will  exist  only 
in  the  surface,  and  the  nation  in  effect  will  be  nearer 
slavery  than  in  any  preceding  reign."  ^ 

Those  were  strong  words  from  a  ruler  who  was  an 
autocrat,  and  who  fully  purposed  to  remain  one ;  but 
the  danger  which  threatened  English  liberty  aroused 
uneasiness  in  a  still  more  singular  quarter  than  the 
Royal  cabinet  at  Potsdam.  Frederic,  after  all,  was  at 
peace  with  our  country,  although  it  did  not  break  his 
heart  to  find  her  in  a  scrape  ;  whereas  France  was  an 
active,  and  erelong  an  open,  enemy.  The  French 
Government,  sore  from  recent  losses  and  humiUations, 
greeted  with  delight  the  rebellion  of  our  colonists ; 
supplied  them  almost  from  the  first  with  money  and 
military  stores  ;  seized  the  opportunity  of  our  difficulty 
to  declare  hostilities,  which  were  prosecuted  with  what, 
for  the  French,  was  unwonted,  and  even  unexampled, 
energy  ;  and  laboured  to  unite  Europe  in  a  coalition 
against  the  British  Empire.  And  yet  there  were 
Frenchmen,  and  many  Frenchmen,  who  never  ceased 
to  reverence  England  as  a  country  which  held  up  to 
the  contemplation  of  mankind  an  example  of  the  ma- 
terial and  moral  advantages  arising  from  stable  and 
rational  self-government ;  and  which,  for  more  than  two 
centuries,  had  been  a  champion  of  liberty  outside  her 
own  borders.  Their  prayer,  or,  (more  strictly  speaking,) 
their  hope  and  aspiration,  —  for  advanced  thinkers  in 
France  were  not  much  given  to  praying,  —  was  that 
England  might  cease  to  be  forgetful  of  her  high  mission, 
and  might  bethink  herself,  before  it  grew  too  late,  that 
in  destroying  the  freedom  of  others  she  was  striking  at 
her  own. 

These  ideas  are  reflected  in  letters  addressed  to  Lord 
Shelburne  by  the  Abb^  Morellet  when  war  between 
France  and  England  was  already  imminent ;  and  a 
later  part  of  the  same  correspondence  proves  that,  after 
four  years  of  fierce  and  dubious  fighting,  solicitude  for 

^  Le  Roi  Frederic  au  Comte  de  Maltzan,  14  aofit,  1775,  (en  chiffres  ;) 
18  decembre,  1775  ;   26  juin,  1777. 


l6o  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  honour  of  our  country  had  not  been  extinguished  in 
the  hearts  of  some  generous  enemies.  The  fall  of  Lord 
North  in  1782  was  hailed  by  enlightened  Parisians  with 
a  satisfaction  inspired  by  the  most  laudable  motives. 
They  felt  joy  and  relief  because  there  would  be  an  end 
of  bloodshed;  because  the  highest  civilisation,  of  which 
France  and  England  were  the  chief  repositories,  would  no 
longer  be  divided  against  itself  ;  but  above  and  beyond 
all,  because  liberty  would  henceforward  be  secure  in 
the  one  great  country  of  Europe  which  was  constitu- 
tionally governed.  "Yes,  my  Lord,"  cried  Morellet, 
"  in  spite  of  the  war  that  divides  us,  I  am  glad  to  see 
your  country  better  administered.  I  rejoice,  in  my 
quality  of  citizen  of  the  world,  that  a  great  people  should 
resume  their  true  place ;  should  regain  a  clear  view  of 
their  real  interests  ;  and  should  employ  their  resources, 
not  in  the  pursuit  of  an  end  which  cannot  be  attained, 
but  for  the  conservation  of  that  wealth  and  influence 
which  are  naturally  their  due,  and  which,  for  the  sake 
of  the  world  at  large,  it  is  all-important  that  they  should 
continue  to  possess.  If  the  independence  of  America 
had  perished,  your  constitution  would  have  been  over- 
thrown, and  your  freedom  lost."^ 

Among  foreigners  who  vexed  themselves  about  the 
perils  which  overhung  the  British  Constitution  the 
Whigs  in  America  could  no  longer  be  reckoned.  As 
the  war  went  forward,  and  their  sacrifices  and  sufferings 
increased,  the  colonists,  (and  none  could  fairly  blame 
them,)  took  less  and  less  count  of  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  two  political  parties  at  Westminster.  They 
regarded  Britain  as  one  integral  and  formidable  whole ; 

1  Lettres  de  VAbb'e  Morellet,  de  VAcad'emie  Frarifaise,  a  Lord  Shel- 
burne,  depitis  A/arqttis  de  lansdoivne,  lyjs—iSo^,  avec  Introduction  et 
Notes  par  Lord  Edmond  Fitzmanrice  :  Paris,  Librairie  Plon,  1898;  pages 
no,  189,  191.  The  passage  in  the  text  reproduces  the  substance  of 
Morellet's  letter  of  April  1782,  and  some  of  the  words;  for  the  words 
are  many.  Morellet  was  a  decorative  artist  of  a  high  order  ;  an  adept  in 
dressing  up  the  stern  discoveries  of  British  political  economists  in  a  shape 
to  suit  the  French  taste.  When,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  he  lighted  upon 
a  subject  which  admitted  of  sentiment  and  emotion,  he  was  not  sparing  of 
his  ornament. 


FEARS  FOR  ENGLISH  LIBERTY  l6l 

and  the  character  in  which  she  presented  herself  at 
their  doors  was  not  such  as  to  command  their  sympathy. 
Charles  Fox,  and  his  eloquent  and  statesmanlike  speeches, 
were  a  long  way  off  ;  while  General  Burgoyne,  with  his 
Brunswickers  and  his  Red  Indians,  was  very  near 
indeed.  People  who  were  occupied  in  striving  to  repel 
British  armies,  and  in  rebuilding  towns  which  British 
fleets  had  burned,  were  left  with  very  httle  leisure  to 
interest  themselves  about  the  preservation  of  British 
liberties.  But  their  descendants,  who  had  plenty  of 
time  to  think  the  matter  over,  ^  and  who,  indeed,  in 
the  department  of  history,  for  many  years  to  come 
thought  of  very  little  else,  —  have  gradually  arrived  at 
the  conclusion  that,  if  the  resistance  of  the  colonies 
had  been  overpowered,  British  and  Transatlantic  free- 
dom would  have  perished  together.  That  conclusion  is, 
now  and  again,  set  forth  by  living  American  writers  in 
a  tone  of  just  pride,  and  in  language  worthy  of  the 
theme.  Whatever,  (we  are  told,)  may  be  the  spirit  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States  to-day,  in  the  eighteenth 
century  the  people  of  the  colonies  were  English  to  the 
heart's  core.  Ever  since  the  new  reign  began,  they 
had  noticed,  with  growing  anxiety,  the  determination  of 
George  the  Third  to  undermine  and  overthrow  the 
old  English  structure  of  genuine  national  self-govern- 
ment, and  real  ministerial  responsibility.  The  English- 
men in  America  rebelled  the  first,  because  they  were 
the  first  to  feel  the  full  force  of  the  assault  upon  liberty. 
Their  Revolution  was  not  an  uprising  against  England, 
or  the  EngUsh  people,  or  the  English  Constitution.  It 
was  a  defensive  movement,  undertaken  in  behalf  of 
essential  English  institutions,  against  the  purpose  and 
effort  of  a  monarch  to  defeat  the  political  progress  of 
the  race,  and  to  turn  back  the  hands  of  time  so  that 
they  might  mark  again  the  dreary  hour  before  Parlia- 
ment had  delivered  us  from  the  Stuarts.^ 

1  Article  by  Henry  Loomis  Nelson,  in  the  New  York  Journal  Literatmi 
of  March  31,  1899. 


1 62  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Such,  in  the  deliberate  judgement  of  a  succeeding 
generation,  was  the  aspect  of  the  situation  in  England 
during  the  earlier  years  of  the  American  war ;  and  such 
it  then  seemed  to  Frenchmen  who  watched  our  politics 
from  the  safe  side  of  the  Channel.  It  was  an  aspect 
necessarily  most  alarming  to  contemporary  Englishmen 
who  foresaw  that  the  free  institutions  of  their  own 
country  might  erelong  be  exposed  to  a  final  and  suc- 
cessful assault ;  and  who  were  conscious  of  being  too 
high-spirited  and  stout-hearted  to  shrink,  when  the  day 
of  trial  came,  from  doing  their  utmost  in  defence  of 
freedom,  however  ruinous  might  be  the  penalty  to 
themselves  and  their  families.  Those  anticipations 
saddened  their  lives,  inspired  their  public  action,  and 
coloured  their  written  and  spoken  confidences.  The 
Duke  of  Richmond  was  a  senator  of  long  experience, 
a  man  of  the  world,  and  a  great  peer  with  an  enormous 
stake  in  the  country ;  his  private  letters  are  serious 
documents  of  grave  authority ;  and  those  letters  supply 
posterity  with  a  sample  of  what  was  thought  and  feared 
by  many  thousands  of  humbler,  but  not  less  honest  and 
patriotic,  people. 

In  August  1776,  —  on  the  day,  as  it  happened,  that 
Howe  began  to  move  against  the  American  lines  in 
Long  Island,  —  Richmond  wrote  to  Edmund  Burke  at 
great  length  from  Paris.  The  Duke  had  repaired  to 
France,  for  the  purpose  of  looking  after  his  hereditary 
estate  in  that  country,  and  of  making  good  his  claim  to 
the  Dukedom  of  Aubigny.  That  proved  a  burdensome 
undertaking ;  for  the  grant  of  a  peerage,  in  order  to  be 
valid,  required  to  be  registered  by  the  Parliament  of 
Paris  ,  and,  in  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  nothing  was  to 
be  had  for  nothing.  Richmond  complained  that,  "  be- 
sides the  real  business  itself,  the  visits,  formalities, 
solicitations,  dinners,  suppers,"  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
machinery  for  bringing  influence  to  bear  upon  every 
individual  concerned,  were  infinitely  wearisome  and 
costly.  And  yet  all  the  expense  of  time,  trouble,  and 
money  was,  in  his  estimation,  very  well  laid  out;  be- 


THE  NEWSPAPERS  163 

cause,  although  things  were  ill  managed  in  France,  cir- 
cumstances might  arise  when  it  would  be  impossible  for 
him  to  reside  at  his  EngHsh  home.  "Who  knows," 
wrote  Richmond,  "  that  a  time  may  not  come  when  a 
retreat  to  this  country  may  not  be  a  happy  thing  to 
have  ?  We  now  hold  our  liberties  merely  by  the  mag- 
nanimity of  the  best  of  kings,  who  will  not  make  use  of 
the  opportunity  he  has  to  seize  them  ;  for  he  has  it  in 
his  power,  with  the  greatest  ease  and  quiet,  to  imitate 
the  King  of  Sweden.^  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  but 
that  his  faithful  peers  and  commons  would  by  degrees, 
—  or  at  once  if  he  liked  it  better,  —  vote  him  complete 
despotism.  I  fear  I  see  the  time  approaching  when  the 
English,  after  having  been  guilty  of  every  kind  of 
meanness  and  corruption,  will  at  last  own  themselves, 
like  the  Swedes,  unworthy  to  be  free.  When  that  day 
comes,  our  situation  will  be  worse  than  France.  Young 
despotism,  like  a  boy  broke  loose  from  school,  will 
indulge  itself  in  every  excess.  Besides,  if  there  is  a 
contest,  though  it  be  a  feeble  one,  I,  or  mine,  may  be 
among  the  proscribed.  If  such  an  event  should  happen, 
and  America  not  be  open  to  receive  us,  France  is  some 
retreat,  and  a  peerage  here  is  something." 

British  opinion  was  never  unanimous  at  any  stage  of 
the  American  war ;  but  in  what  proportion  that  opinion 
was  divided  it  is  impossible  to  determine  at  the  distance 
of  a  hundred  and  thirty  years.  Men  of  practical  expe- 
rience in  politics  turn  sceptical  when  told  very  positively 
what  "  the  country  "  thinks  with  regard  to  a  question 
even  of  their  own  day,  and  are  inclined  to  ask  their 
informant  how  large  a  part  of  the  country  has  taken 
him  into  its  confidence.  Historians,  who  have  tried  to 
gauge  the  feeling  of  our  ancestors  during  the  struggle 
with  America,  have  often  paid  far  too  much  respect  to 

'  Gustavus  the  Third  had  recently  subverted  the  ConstitutiDii  in 
Sweden;  not  without  excuses  which  were  altogether  waiUiiig  to  Cieorge 
the  Third  when  he  devised  his  scheme  of  Personal  (jovernment. 


1 64  THE  AM  ERICA  M  REVOLUTION 

the  hasty  generalisations  of  sanguine,  or  of  despondent, 
partisans.  All  those  who  sturdily  push  their  way 
through  the  thickets  of  that  ancient  controversy  find 
such  fruit  growing  in  profusion  on  every  bush.  A 
Whig  in  Devonshire  wrote  out  to  Philadelphia  that  the 
whole  nation  was  mad,  and  that  he  could  scarcely  meet 
one  man  in  twenty  who  did  not  wish  to  see  Great  Britain, 
and  himself,  bankrupt  rather  than  not  bring  the  colonies 
to  the  feet  of  Lord  George  Germaine.  John  Wesley, 
on  the  other  hand,  while  heartily  agreeing  that  the 
nation  was  mad,  gave  as  a  proof  of  it  that  a  great 
majority  of  Englishmen,  Irishmen,  and  Scotchmen  were 
exasperated  almost  to  insanity  against  the  King  and  the 
King's  policy.  Anything  may  be  proved  on  either  side 
by  a  judicious  selection  of  individual  utterances  that 
were  made  in  all  good  faith,  but  too  frequently  from 
very  imperfect  knowledge.  More  profitable  results  are 
to  be  obtained  by  minute  observation  of  certain  facts 
and  circumstances  which  are  beyond  dispute  ;  and  the 
significance  of  which  can  be  tested  by  those  who, 
whenever  the  England  of  their  own  lifetime  has  passed 
through  a  period  of  warlike  excitement,  have  kept  their 
eyes  open  to  what  went  on  around  them.  Twice  in  the 
memory  of  men  over  sixty  years  of  age,  and  once  at 
least  in  the  experience  of  everyone  who  reads  these 
volumes,  Britain  has  been  engaged  in  a  war  on  which 
the  interest  of  the  nation  was  eagerly  concentrated. 
All  who  have  noted  the  features  and  incidents  of  the 
Crimean  war,  and  the  Transvaal  war,  —  and  who  have 
studied  the  parallel  features  and  incidents  of  the  years 
which  elapsed  between  1774  and  1782,  —  may  estimate 
for  themselves  whether  the  American  war,  as  wars  go, 
was  popular  or  not. 

Before  commencing  that  inquiry,  there  is  one  pre- 
liminary remark  which,  on  the  face  of  the  matter,  it  is 
permissible  to  make.  The  House  of  Commons,  at  the 
last,  with  the  warm  and  very  general  approbation  of 
the  country,  put  a  stop  to  hostiUties,  and  recognised  the 
independence  of  America.    The  British  nation  had  been 


THE  NEWSPAPERS  1 65 

tried  in  the  fire  before  then,  and  has  been  tried  since ; 
and  it  has  never  been  the  national  custom  to  back  out 
of  a  just  quarrel  for  no  other  reason  than  because 
Britain,  at  a  given  moment,  was  getting  the  worst  of  it. 
In  1782  our  people  solemnly  and  deliberately  abandoned 
the  attempt  to  reconquer  America  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  both  wrong  and  foolish  ;  and  that  fact,  to  the 
mind  of  everyone  who  holds  the  British  character  in 
esteem,  affords  an  irresistible  proof  that  a  very  large 
section  of  the  people  must  all  along  have  been  fully 
persuaded  that  the  coercion  of  our  colonists  by  arms 
was  neither  wise  nor  righteous. 

The  surest  criterion  of  the  popularity  attaching  to  a 
warlike  policy  is  afforded  by  the  prevailing  tone  and 
tendency  of  the  public  journals.  So  long  as  a  people 
have  their  hearts  in  a  contest,  newspapers  which  oppose 
the  war  are  few,  and  for  the  most  part,  timid ;  while 
the  newspapers  which  support  the  war  are  numerous 
and  thriving,  and  very  seldom  err  by  an  excess  of  toler- 
ance when  dealing  either  with  critics  at  home,  or  with 
adversaries  abroad.  Books  or  pamphlets,  however  large 
their  number,  do  not  supply  an  equally  important  test 
of  national  opinion.  For  on  the  one  hand,  it  is  notorious 
that  Ministers  of  State  in  the  eighteenth  century  were 
in  the  habit  of  paying  an  author  to  defend  them  and 
their  proceedings ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  man  who, 
from  public  spirit  or  private  spite,  is  opposed  to  a  Gov- 
ernment, thinks  little  of  spending  ten  or  twenty  pounds 
in  order  that  his  fellow-citizens  should  be  able  to  peruse 
his  views  in  print,  however  few  among  them  may  care 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity.  But  a  news- 
paper lives  by  being  read  ;  and,  in  the  great  majority 
of  cases,  none  read  it,  and  still  fewer  buy  it,  unless  they 
agree  with  its  opinions.  The  first  quarter  of  a  century 
in  George  the  Third's  reign  was  to  a  marked  degree  an 
age  of  newspapers.  Whatever  good  or  evil  the  King 
might  have  done,  he  had  lent,  most  unintentionally,  an 
extraordinary  impulse  to  the  activity  and  influence  of 
public  journalism.     During  the  long  constitutional  agi- 


1 66  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

tation,  of  which  the  Middlesex  Election  was  the  outward 
and  visible  symptom,  newspapers  had  played  a  com- 
manding part.  They  had  multiplied  in  number ;  they 
had  grown  in  size ;  they  had  perfected  themselves  in 
the  art  of  producing  matter  acceptable  to  their  readers ; 
and  they  had  greatly  increa.sed  their  circulation.  Be- 
tween 1760  and  1775  the  stamps  issued  by  the  Treasury 
had  risen,  from  less  than  nine  and  a  half,  to  consider- 
ably over  twelve  and  a  half,  millions  a  year.  In  1776, 
—  after  some  experience  of  a  war  conducted  beneath  the 
eyes  of  a  vigilant  press,  —  the  Cabinet,  needing  money 
much  and  loving  newspapers  but  little,  raised  the  stamp 
duty  to  the  amount  of  three  halfpence  on  every  half 
sheet.  Still  the  sale  went  upwards ;  and  it  was  not 
until  Lord  North  retired  from  office,  and  the  long  argu- 
ment between  the  Crown  and  the  people  was  thereby 
concluded,  that  the  growing  demand  for  newspaper 
stamps  began  to  flag,  and  at  length  actually  fell. 

Among  London  newspapers  the  largest,  the  most 
attractive,  and  quite  incomparably  the  most  in  request, 
were  opposed  to  the  American  policy  of  the  Cabinet. 
The  "  North  Briton,"  indeed,  was  no  longer  in  existence. 
Number  Forty-five,  the  dearest  scrap  of  printed  matter 
on  record,  —  for  it  cost  the  Government,  soon  or  late, 
a  hundred  thousand  pounds  to  suppress  it,  —  had  been 
burned  by  the  common  hangman  amid  public  excitement 
so  vehement  that  the  hangman  himself  was  with  diffi- 
culty saved  from  being  burned  as  well.  But  a  whole 
covey  of  Phoenixes  rose  from  its  ashes,  eager  to  avenge 
their  defunct  predecessor  with  beak  and  talon.  The 
London  "  Evening  Post,"  the  "  Public  Advertiser,"  the 
"Morning  Chronicle  and  London  Advertiser,"  and  the 
"Gazetteer  and  New  Daily  Advertiser,"  gave  the  Court 
and  the  Bedfords  superabundant  cause  to  regret  that 
they  had  not  left  Wilkes  and  his  newspaper  alone. 

Most  of  the  leading  journals,  mindful  of  their  origin, 
were  careful  to  insert  the  time-honoured  name  of  "  Ad- 
vertiser" in  some  corner  of  their  title.  They  had  com- 
menced existence  as  advertising  sheets,  containing  little 


THE  NEWSPAPERS  1 67 

news  and  less  politics. ^  But  it  was  far  otherwise  with 
the  imposing  pages  which,  on  every  other  morning  dur- 
ing every  week  that  the  American  war  lasted,  came  rus- 
tling forth  from  the  London  presses.  They  did  not 
altogether  disdain  to  inform  the  world  where  purchasers 
might  hear  of  desirable  house-property,  and  seasoned 
hunters,  and  drafts  of  fox-hound  puppies,  and  pectoral 
lozenges  for  defluxions,  and  Analeptic  Pills  for  gout,  and 
Catholic  Pills  for  everything  ;  but  they  devoted  very  much 
the  larger  part  of  their  ample  space  to  more  flaming  and 
fascinating  topics.  Their  varied  columns  teemed  with 
news  which  could  not  be  found  in  the  "  London  Gazette," 
and  which  the  Ministry  had  frequently  the  strongest 
personal  reasons  for  concealing.  In  communicated 
articles ;  in  spicy  paragraphs :  in  epistles  of  inordinate 
length,  signed  by  old  Roman  names  of  the  Republican 
era,  — they  flagellated  the  Prime  Minister  and  every  one 
of  his  colleagues,  and  denounced  him  for  having  begun 
an  unjust  war  which  he  was  totally  incompetent  to 
conduct. 

The  "  Morning  Post  and  Daily  Advertiser  "  had  been 
converted  into  a  ministerial  paper  by  Henry  Bate,  the 
editor.  Bate  was  a  clergyman  by  profession,  and  was 
reasonably  enough  viewed  in  Whig  circles  as  one  who 
did  not  rise  to  the  obligations  of  his  sacred  calling ;  for 
very  eminent  Tories,  in  his  own  day  and  afterwards, 
have  admitted  that  at  this  period  of  his  career  he  was 
nothing  better  than  a  bully  and  a  ruffian.  Dr.  Johnson, 
who  fought  for  his  Sovereign's  policy  strenuously,  and 
even  fiercely,  but  who  always  fought  fair,  spoke  of  Bate 
with  scathing  reprobation  ;  and  Mr.  Croker,  who  had 
no  Whig  prejudices,  has  written  an  account  of  the  young 
man's  performances  which  confirms  Johnson's  strictures 
upon  his  character.2     jf  ^^  except  the  damaging  advo- 

1  Chapter  vii.  of  English  Newspapers,  by  H.  R.  Fox-Bourne;  London, 
1897. 

2  "  Sir,"  said  Johnson,  "  I  will  not  allow  this  man  to  have  merit.  No, 
Sir;  what  he  has  is  rather  the  contrary.  I  will,  indeed,  allow  him  cour- 
age ;  and  on  this  account  we  so  far  give  him  credit.  We  have  more  respect 
for  a  man  who  robs  boldly  on  the  highway  than  for  a  fellow  who  jumps 


1 68  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

cacy  of  the  "  Morning  Post,"  and  the  official  sterility 
of  the  "  London  Gazette,"  Ministers  had  not  much  for 
which  to  thank  the  newspapers.  The  little  "  London 
Chronicle,"  a  square  foot  in  size,  treated  them  with  a 
friendliness  tempered  by  its  abhorrence  of  Lord  Bute 
and  the  Scotch,  whom,  (like  English  mankind  in  gen- 
eral,) it  persisted  in  regarding  as  the  secret  inspirers  of 
George  the  Third  and  his  Cabinet.  The  "  Public  Ledger  " 
announced  itself  as  a  political  commercial  paper,  open  to 
all  parties  and  influenced  by  none ;  and  it  bestowed  on 
Lord  North  an  occasional  word  of  praise,  accompanied 
by  much  good  advice  which  he  seldom  heeded.  And 
yet  even  the  "  Ledger  "  excused  the  American  invasion 
of  Canada  as  a  step  to  which  the  colonists  had  been 
driven  in  self-defence.  There  were  journals  which,  while 
they  disapproved  the  war,  still  continued  to  speak  well 
of  the  Government ;  but  in  the  whole  circuit  of  the  Lon- 
don Press  no  newspaper  could  be  found  which  adopted 
the  line  of  being  in  opposition  to  the  Government,  but 
in  favour  of  the  war. 

In  estimating  the  balance  of  British  opinion  during 
the  American  Revolution  great  importance  must  be  at- 
tached to  the  views  expressed  by  the  newspapers  ;  but 
not  less  significant  was  the  impunity  with  which  those 
views  were  given  to  the  world.  It  has  happened  more 
than  once  that  an  Administration,  already  on  the  decline, 
has  become  powerful  and  popular  when  a  war  broke  out, 
and  has  retained  its  advantage  so  long  as  that  war  en- 
dured ;  and,  under  the  Georges,  an  accession  of  strength, 

out  of  a  ditch,  and  knocks  you  down  behind  your  back.  Courage  is  a 
quality  so  necessary  for  maintaining  virtue  that  it  is  always  respected,  even 
when  it  is  associated  with  vice." 

This  left-handed  compliment,  —  the  best  that  was  to  be  said  for  Bate,  — 
is  to  be  found  in  the  seventy-ninth  chapter  of  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson, 
as  edited  by  the  Right  Honourable  John  Wilson  Croker.  Croker  gives  a 
short  narrative  of  Bate's  proceedings  in  a  note  subjoined  to  the  passage. 
To  the  end  of  his  days,  which  were  many,  "  Parson  Bate  "  was  a  famous 
patron  of  the  prize-ring;  and  his  prowess  had  been  tested  in  many  chance  en- 
counters. His  admirers  assure  us  that  the  professionals  were  much  relieved 
by  his  refusal  to  step  inside  the  ropes.  Late  in  life  he  was  made  a  Baronet. 
To  such  base  use  did  that  ancient,  but  unfortunate,  order  come  at  last. 


THE  NEWSPAPERS  1 69 

and  of  public  favour,  meant  a  great  deal  more  to  a  Gov- 
ernment than  it  means  now.  A  war  ministry  then,  which 
had  the  country  with  it,  was  terribly  formidable  to  poli- 
tical opponents  at  home.  It  might  have  seemed  Hkely 
that,  after  the  colonists  had  recourse  to  arms,  journalists 
and  pamphleteers  who  went  counter  to  the  royal  policy 
w^ould  soon  have  a  very  bad  time  in  England  ;  but  exactly 
the  opposite  result  ensued.  During  the  first  fourteen 
years  of  George  the  Third,  the  ministerial  censorship  of 
the  Press  had  been  continuous,  inquisitorial,  and  harsh 
almost  to  barbarity.  The  most  exalted  magistrates  had 
placed  themselves  at  the  service  of  the  executive  with 
culpable  facility;  not  for  the  first  time  in  our  history. 
Roger  North,  in  his  picturesque  and  instructive  family 
biographies,  reports  how,  throughout  the  civil  dissen- 
sions of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  time  of  the  King's 
Bench  was  taken  up  with  factious  contentions ;  and  he 
speaks  of  that  Court  as  a  place  where  more  news  than 
law  was  stirring.  The  law,  as  there  laid  down  by  Lord 
Mansfield  in  1763,  was  fraught  with  grave  consequences 
to  all  men  who  gained  their  livelihood  by  writing  copy, 
or  by  setting  up  type.  Informations  began  to  rain  like 
hail  upon  authors,  editors,  publishers,  and  printers. 
Crushing  fines,  protracted  terms  of  imprisonment,  and 
the  open  shame  of  the  pillory,  were,  for  several  years  to 
come,  the  portion  of  those  who  criticised  the  Cabinet  in 
earnest.  Their  plight  would  have  been  hopeless  if  they 
had  not  sometimes  found  a  refuge  in  the  Common  Pleas, 
where  the  president  of  the  tribunal  was  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice Pratt ;  who  subsequently  in  the  House  of  Peers,  as 
Lord  Camden,  ably  supported  Lord  Chatham's  endeav- 
ours to  reconcile  Great  Britain  and  America.  Pratt, 
acting  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  law  wherever  liberty  was 
at  hazard,  and  audaciously  advancing  the  limits  of  his 
own  jurisdiction  when  he  otherwise  could  not  rescue  a 
victim,  nobly  vindicated  the  ancient  reputation  of  his 
Court.i     As  time  went  on,  the  ministerial  majority  in  the 

1  "The  parties  agKrieveri,"  (so  Lord  Campbell  writes,)  "avoided  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench,  and  sought  redress  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 


I/O  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

House  of  Commons  joined  in  the  hunt ;  and  Parliamen- 
tary Privilege,  which  had  been  devised  for  the  protection 
of  freedom,  was  perverted,  amid  scenes  of  scandalous 
uproar  and  irregularity,  into  an  engine  of  tyranny.^ 

Ministers  who  had  pursued  such  courses  in  a  time 
of  peace,  —  when  they  could  not  excuse  their  arbitrary 
measures  by  the  plea  of  national  danger,  or  the  neces- 
sity for  preserving  an  appearance  of  national  unanimity, 
—  might  have  been  expected,  when  a  war  was  raging, 
to  have  strained  and  over-ridden  legality  more  unscru- 
pulously than  ever  for  the  purpose  of  paying  out  old 
scores,  and  repressing  fresh  ebullitions  of  hostile  criti- 
cism. But,  though  the  clamour  against  the  King  and 
his  ministers  waxed  ever  more  shrill  and  more  pertina- 
cious, the  censorship  seemed  to  have  lost  its  nerve,  and 
the  Opposition  press  went  forward  on  its  boisterous 
way  unmenaced  and  almost  unmolested.  Political  trials 
became  infrequent,  and,  after  a  while,  ceased.^  The 
voice  of  the  Attorney-General  calHng  for  vengeance,  — 
now  upon  grave  constitutional  essayists,  or  vehement 
champions  of  freedom  ;  now  upon  some  miserable  book- 
seller's hack,  and  the  compositors  who  had  deciphered 
and  printed  his  lucubrations, — was  hushed  and  silent. 

from  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Pratt.  He  liberated  Wilkes  from  the  Tower 
on  the  ground  of  parliamentary  privilege  ;  and,  declaring  general  warrants 
to  be  illegal,  he  obtained  from  juries  very  heavy  damages  for  those  who 
had  been  arrested,  and  whose  papers  had  been  seized,  on  the  suspicion 
that  they  were  concerned  in  prmting,  and  publishing,  the  number  of  the 
North  Briton  which  had  been  singled  out  for  prosecution."  Life  of  Lord 
Mansfield,  chapter  xxxvi. 

Roger  North's  discriminating  praise  of  the  Common  Pleas  under  the 
Stuart  dynasty  is  sanctioned  by  what  was  then  the  highest  known 
authority.  "  As  the  Lord  Nottingham  in  one  of  his  speeches  expresseth, 
The  law  is  there  at  home." 

1  The  excesses  into  which  Parliament  was  betrayed  during  those  evil 
years,  and  the  zest  with  which  Fox  led  the  riot  within  its  walls,  at  an  age 
when  he  ought  to  have  been  taking  his  degree  at  Oxford,  may  be  seen  in 
the  fifth,  sixth,  and  ninth  chapters  of  the  Early  History  of  Charles  James 
Fox. 

2  John  Home  Tooke's  trial,  on  a  charge  of  seditious  libel  connected 
with  the  American  controversy,  took  place  as  early  as  the  second  year  of 
the  war.  His  conviction  injured  the  Ministry  much  more  than  it  alarmed 
the  Press. 


THE  NEWSPAPERS  I71 

Men  wrote  what  they  thought  and  felt,  in  such  terms  as 
their  indignation  prompted  and  their  taste  permitted. 
However  crude  and  violent  might  be  the  language  in 
which  the  newspapers  couched  their  invectives,  the  legal 
advisers  of  the  Government,  when  it  came  to  a  question 
of  prosecution,  were  awed  and  scared  by  the  conscious- 
ness that  there  existed  immense  multitudes  of  people 
for  whom  diatribes  against  the  Court  and  the  Cabinet 
could  not  be  too  highly  flavoured.  Absolute  liberty  of 
discussion  thenceforward  prevailed ;  but,  to  the  honour 
of  English  fairness,  there  was  no  immunity  for  gross 
slander.  In  the  case  of  a  false  and  foul  charge,  brought 
against  a  public  man  of  either  party,  our  tribunals 
showed  themselves  ready,  according  to  the  racy  old 
judicial  phrase,  to  lay  a  lying  knave  by  the  heels.  The 
"Morning  Post,"  in  1780,  accused  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond of  treasonable  communication  with  the  French 
Government.  But  that  statesman's  display  of  kindli- 
ness towards  British  colonists,  who  would  still  have 
been  the  Duke's  fellow-subjects  but  for  an  insane  policy 
which  he  himself  had  consistently  opposed,  was  no 
proof  of  guilty  sympathy  with  a  foreign  enemy  in  the 
view  of  British  jurymen.  Nor  were  they  disposed  to 
overlook  a  flagrant  insult  offered  to  one  of  the  real 
heroes  of  Minden,  in  order  to  gratify  politicians  who 
were  not  ashamed  of  sitting  in  the  same  Cabinet  with 
Lord  George  Sackville.  Bate  was  found  guilty,  and 
was  incarcerated  for  a  twelvemonth. 

The  exemption  from  maltreatment  which  Opposition 
publicists  enjoyed  was  certainly  not  purchased  by  their 
own  moderation  or  discretion.  They  wrote  in  a  strain, 
sometimes  of  jovial  impudence  ;  sometimes  of  power- 
fully reasoned,  and  withering,  animadversion  ;  and  their 
swoop  was  never  so  direct  and  savage  as  when  they 
flew  at  the  highest  game.  In  the  "  North  Ikiton  "  of 
the  twenty-third  of  April  1763,  Wilkes  had  commented 
on  a  King's  Speech  in  terms  very  uncomplimentary  to 
the  Cabinet,  but,  wherever  the  King  was  mentioned,  in 
decent  and  measured  phrases.     While  the  Speech  was 


172  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

pronounced  to  be  the  most  abandoned  instance  of  official 
effrontery  ever  attempted  to  be  imposed  on  mankind, 
it  was  expressly  declared  to  be  the  production  of  un- 
principled Ministers,  which  in  a  weak  moment  had  been 
adopted  as  his  own  by  a  gracious  King.  At  a  later  time 
in  the  annals  of  journalism,  an  amiable  votary  of  litera- 
ture,—  whose  virtues  and  weaknesses  had  rendered  him 
harmless  to  everybody  except  himself,  —  applied  to  the 
Prince  Regent  a  jeering  epithet  which  any  man  of  com- 
mon sense,  on  the  throne  or  near  it,  would  have  read 
with  a  contemptuous  smile,  and  dismissed  from  his 
memory.  And  yet  Leigh  Hunt  was  heavily  fined,  and 
imprisoned  for  twenty-four  months ;  and  George  the 
Third,  during  ten  consecutive  years,  tried  so  hard  to 
ruin  Wilkes  that,  in  the  course  of  his  operations,  he 
came  unpleasantly  near  to  upsetting  his  own  throne. 
The  promptness  and  rigour  with  which  attacks  upon 
royalty  were  punished  both  before  and  since,  —  as  com- 
pared to  the  boundless  license  which  was  permitted  at 
that  epoch  when  the  sovereign  stood  before  the  nation 
as  a  prime  instigator,  and  a  resolute  supporter,  of  the 
American  war,  —  may  be  taken  as  a  measure  of  the  dis- 
taste which  that  war  then  inspired  in  a  very  great  number 
of  Englishmen. 

From  1775  onward  the  newspapers  went  straight 
for  the  King.  The  Empire,  (they  declared,)  was  under 
the  direction  of  a  bigoted  and  vindictive  prince,  whose 
administration  was  odious  and  corrupt  in  every  part : 
so  that  the  struggles  of  a  handful  of  his  subjects,  made 
furious  by  oppression,  had  proclaimed  the  weakness  of 
that  Empire  to  the  world.  Those  precise  words  were 
printed  at  the  beginning  of  1776;  and  towards  the  end 
of  the  year  a  Christian  Soldier  addressed  George  the 
Third  in  a  sermon  of  a  couple  of  columns,  headed  by  the 
first  seven  verses  of  the  Sixth  Chapter  in  the  Wisdom 
of  Solomon.  The  denunciation  against  wicked  rulers, 
which  those  verses  contain,  was  a  sufficient  sermon  in 
itself  ;  but  the  preacher  did  not  shrink  from  the  duty  of 
pressing  his  text  home.     "  Have  you  not,"  he  asked  the 


THE  NEWSPAPERS  1 73 

King,  "  called  your  own  pretensions  the  necessity  of  the 
State  ?  Have  you  chosen  for  your  Ministers  and  Coun- 
sellors men  of  the  greatest  piety,  courage,  and  under- 
standing ?  Have  you  not  dreaded  to  have  such  around 
you,  because  they  would  not  flatter  you,  and  would 
oppose  your  unjust  passions  and  your  misbecoming 
designs?"  And  so  the  argument  continued  through 
a  score  of  interrogatives,  any  one  of  which,  five  years 
before,  or  ten  years  before,  would  have  sent  the  author, 
and  his  printer,  and  the  printer's  devils  as  well,  to  think 
out  the  answ^er  to  that  string  of  irreverent  queries  in  the 
solitude  of  Newgate. 

Whenever  the  Ministry  was  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  King,  it  was  not  for  the  purpose  of  shielding 
him  from  responsibility,  but  in  order  to  upbraid  him  for 
having  entrusted  the  government  of  the  country  to  such 
a  pack  of  reprobates.  There  could  not,  according  to 
one  journalist,  be  anything  more  unfortunate  for  a 
nation  than  for  its  Prince  not  to  have  one  honest  man 
about  him.  "Americans,"  wrote  another,  "are  totally 
indifferent  about  every  change  of  Ministers  which  may 
happen  in  the  Court  system.  They  care  not  who  comes 
in.  They  know  that  a  change  of  men  implies  nothing 
more  than  knaves  succeeding  to  that  power  which 
former  knaves  were  fools  enough  to  abuse."  The  rea- 
son why  England  had  come  to  be  ruled  by  fools  and 
knaves  was  illustrated  by  an  historical  anecdote  duly 
pointed  with  italics.  "  Mr.  Waller,  the  celebrated  poet, 
being  in  the  Closet  with  James  the  Second  one  day,  the 
King  asked  him  how  he  liked  a  picture  of  the  Princess 
of  Orange.  '  I  think,'  says  Waller,  'she  is  very  like  the 
greatest  woman  in  the  world.'  '  Whom  do  you  call  so  .-• ' 
said  the  King.  'Queen  Elizabeth,'  replied  the  other. 
'I  wonder,  Mr.  Waller,'  said  the  King,  'you  should  think 
so,  as  Queen  Elizabeth  owed  all  her  greatness  to  the 
wisdom  of  her  Council.'  ^  And  pray,  sir,'  says  Waller, 
'  did  you  ever  knozv  a  fool  cJinse  a  wise  one  f  "  1 

'  The  London  /■'.vening  Post  of  Saturday,  September  27,  to  Tuesday, 
September  30,  1777. 


174  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

These  passages  are  a  small  nosegay  of  specimens 
culled  from  a  vast,  and  not  always  fragrant,  garden. 
Caradoc,  and  Britannicus,  and  Publius,  and  Ximenes, 
and  Eumenes,  and  A  True  Whig,  and  A  Friend  to 
Liberty,  were  often  drearily  long-winded,  and  some- 
times unconscionably  violent ;  and  yet  many  thousands 
of  our  forefathers  read  their  effusions  with  solemn  satis- 
faction, and  never  wished  them  shorter  by  a  sentence, 
or  less  strong  by  a  single  superlative.  Even  where  an 
assailant  of  the  King  had  the  grace  to  veil  his  attack 
beneath  a  guise  of  irony,  he  always  took  good  care  to 
make  his  meaning  obvious.  Before  the  winter  Session 
of  1776,  a  contributor  to  a  newspaper,  signing  himself 
"  Aratus,"  was  at  the  pains  to  compose  an  imaginary 
Speech  from  the  throne.  "  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen," 
(so  George  the  Third  was  represented  as  saying,)  "since 
the  whole  world  knows  how  I  have  been  deceived,  I 
have  chosen  in  this  public  manner  to  declare  that  I  am 
now  sensible  of  the  errors  into  which  I  have  been  led  by 
evil  counsellors.  I  glory  in  avowing  the  disposition  of 
my  heart ;  and,  convinced  of  the  generosity  and  mag- 
nanimity of  my  people,  I  know  they  will  approve  my 
candour.  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  will  soon  reduce 
France  and  Spain  to  peace,  if  they  should  dare  to 
draw  the  sword  against  me.  An  English  monarch 
must  always  be  triumphant  when  he  reigns  in  the  heart 
of  his  people." 

Odes,  as  Pindaric  as  a  poet  of  the  antechamber 
could  make  them,  had  long  been  considered  by  the 
French  and  EngHsh  Courts  to  be  the  appropriate  form 
in  which  literary  incense  should  be  burned  before  Kings. 
But  George  the  Third  very  early  learned,  —  what  Louis 
the  Great,  to  the  grievous  hurt  of  his  dignity,  had  been 
taught  by  no  less  skilful  a  master  than  Matthew  Prior,^ 

^  "Prior  burlesqued,  with  admirable  spirit  and  pleasantry,  the  bom- 
bastic verses  in  which  Boileau  had  celebrated  the  first  taking  of  Namur. 
The  two  odes,  printed  side  by  side,  were  read  with  delight  in  London  ; 
and  the  critics  at  Will's  pronounced  that,  in  wit  as  in  arms,  England  had 
been  victorious."     Macaulay's  History  of  England ;  chapter  xxi. 


THE  NEWSPAPERS  1 75 

—  that  poetry,  and  official  poetry  above  any,  presents  a 
temptation  which  an  idle  and  malicious  humourist  finds 
it  impossible  to  withstand.  Regularly  as  Whitehead's 
New  Year  ode,  and  Birthday  ode,  were  laid  on  the 
bookseller's  counter,  the  whole  tribe  of  scribblers  betook 
themselves  with  never-failing  relish  to  the  work  of 
parody.  Opposition  newspapers,  all  through  the 
months  of  January  and  June,  regaled  their  subscribers 
with  interminable  files  of  halting  stanzas.  In  case  the 
Laureate  died,  there  was  only  too  evidently  a  large 
supply  of  bards  who,  if  they  consented  to  change  their 
political  opinions,  had  every  intellectual  qualification  for 
succeeding  him.  Everything  which  could  be  said  for 
or  against  the  King,  and  the  King's  Friends,  and  the 
King's  Ministers,  found  its  way  into  the  strophes  and 
antistrophes  with  which  the  town  was  deluged ;  and  in 
that  Amoebean  contest  it  is  hard  to  pronounce  whether 
panegyrists,  or  detractors,  of  Royalty  were  the  sorriest 
rhymers.^  The  Court  ode,  a  sickly  and  unnatural 
species  of  composition  from  the  very  first,  —  whether 
original,  or  under  the  handling  of  a  satirical  imitator,  — 
became  positively  nauseous  from  endless  reiteration. 

Incidents  not  unfrequently  occurred  which  inspired 
more  forcible  writers  with  verses  less  unreadable,  but 
often  grossly  and  extravagantly  unfair.     The  King  was 


1  "  So  firm  withal,  he's  fixed  as  Fate. 
When  once  resolved,  at  any  rate 

He'll  stick  to  his  opinions  ; 
And,  nobly  scorning  to  be  crossed, 
Has  most  magnanimously  lust 
Three  parts  of  his  dominions. 

How  blest  the  men  he  condescends 
To  honour  with  the  name  of  Friends  ! 

Where  steadier  could  he  choose  him  ? 
For,  from  my  conscience  I  believe, 
'Tis  not  in  nature  to  conceive 

The  service  they'll  refuse  him." 

These  are  the  most  presentable  lines  which  can  be  discovered  among 
the  parodies  on  the  Birthday  Ode  of  1776. 


176  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

said  to  have  been  in  the  Royal  box  at  the  theatre  when 
the  report  of  a  sanguinary  battle  reached  London. 

"At  the  play  when  the  news  of  the  slaughter  arrived! 
What!  Pray  is  the  ghost  of  old  Nero  revived? 
A  Caesar  to  grin  at  a  Foote  or  Macheath, 
While  perhaps  his  own  armies  are  bleeding  to  death! 

An  empire  disjoined  and  a  continent  lost! 
The  zeal  of  her  children  converted  to  hate, 
And  the  death  of  the  parent  involved  in  its  fate; 
Her  treasures  exhausted,  her  consequence  broke, 
Her  credit  a  jest,  and  her  terrors  a  joke ! " 

Those  were  the  circumstances,  (so  Englishmen  were 
bidden  to  observe,)  under  which  poor  George  the  Third, 
the  most  laborious  and  self-denying  of  public  servants, 
had  ventured  forth  for  a  much  needed  evening  out. 
Such  a  theory  of  what  propriety  demanded  constituted 
a  very  extensive  interference  with  the  King's  recrea- 
tions ;  for  the  time  was  at  hand  when  never  a  day 
elapsed  that  some  one,  in  some  quarter  of  the  globe, 
was  not  being  killed  in  a  war  which,  after  the  winter 
of  1777,  the  monarch  kept  afoot  by  his  own  personal 
influence  against  the  very  general  wish  of  his  people,  and 
the  judgement  of  all  prudent  members  of  his  Cabinet. 

In  spite  of  some  excesses,  absurdities,  and  affecta- 
tions, the  best  newspapers  did  much  to  maintain  at  a 
high  level  the  character  of  the  British  Press.  The  con- 
duct of  the  war  by  both  belligerents  was  narrowly 
watched,  and  was  criticised  from  week  to  week  in  out- 
spoken prose  not  open  to  the  charge  of  being  either 
trivial  or  calumnious.  There  were  grave  and  excellent 
writers  who  constituted  themselves  the  guardians  of  their 
countrymen's  honour,  on  whichever  side  of  the  quarrel 
those  countrymen  fought.  They  censured  the  arm- 
ing of  savages  by  the  British  War  Office,  and  the 
burning  of  defenceless  towns  by  British  frigates ;  but 
they  protested,  with  as  warm  disapproval,  when  the 
printing  establishment  of   James   Rivington,   the   New 


THE  NEWSPAPERS 


177 


York  Loyalist,  was  sacked  by  a  mob  of  Whig  raiders 
from  Connecticut,  and  when  insults  were  offered  at  Phil- 
adelphia to  Quakers  whose  scruples  would  not  allow 
them  to  take  service  against  the  Crown.  Newspapers 
never  shrank  from  expressing  an  opinion  beforehand 
about  strategical  operations  of  the  Government ;  and 
few  were  the  instances  where  Lord  George  Germaine 
ultimately  proved  to  be  in  the  right,  and  the  news- 
papers in  the  wrong.  That  most  illogical  test  of 
patriotism  which  has  been  insisted  upon  by  unwise 
rulers,  and  their  flatterers,  from  the  days  of  Ahab  and 
Micaiah  the  son  of  Imlah  downwards,^  had  no  terrors 
for  Englishmen  of  a  vigorous  and  valiant  generation ; 
and  very  small  attention  was  paid  to  ministerial  partisans 
who  brought  charges  of  disloyalty  against  a  military 
critic  because  he  would  not  prophesy  pleasant  things. 

The  Opposition  newswriters,  when  the  event  showed 
their  anticipations  of  failure  to  have  been  accurate, 
were  bold  to  point  the  moral.  "Who  were  they  who 
brought  His  Majesty's  army  into  a  place  from  which  it 
was  a  triumph  to  escape  "i  If  Boston  was  not  a  spot 
worth  defending  for  its  own  sake,  why  did  the  troops 
continue  there  for  near  two  years .''  Why  were  they 
reinforced  until  they  amounted  to  near  twelve  thousand 
men  }  Why  were  four  generals  sent  to  command  them  } 
Why  was  the  Ordnance  Oi^ce  emptied  to  defend 
Boston  ?  Why  was  the  Sinking  Fund  swallowed  up } 
Why  were  sixty  thousand  tons  of  transports  employed 
in  that  service  1  Why  was  the  nation  almost  starved 
to  feed  that  town.?  Why  was  so  much  brave  blood 
shed  at  Bunker's  Hill.'"'-^  These  are  questions  which 
have  never  yet  received  an  answer. 

When,  in  January  1777,  Howe  was  forced  to  aban- 
don the  Jerseys,  and  confine  himself  to  the  neighbour- 

1  First  Kings,  chapter  xxii.,  verses  i  to  38.  "  And  the  messenger, 
that  was  gone  to  call  Micaiah  spake  unto  him,  saying.  Behold  now,  the 
words  of  the  prophets  declare  good  unto  the  king  with  one  mouth :  let 
thy  word,  I  pray  thee,  be  like  the  word  of  one  of  them,  and  speak  that 
which  is  good." 

^  Letter  of  Valens  ;   July  II,  1776. 

VOL.  HI.  N 


1/8  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

hood  of  New  York  City,  those  journalists  who  had  been 
all  along  opposed  to  the  expedition  were  exceedingly 
frank  in  their  comments.  They  condemned  the  General 
for  his  faulty  tactics ;  and  still  less  did  they  spare  the 
Minister.  In  making  out  their  case  against  Lord  North 
they  appealed  to  that  sound,  and  not  ignoble,  principle 
which  had  inspired  the  foreign  poUcy  of  Burleigh  and 
of  Chatham,  and  had  produced  the  victories  won  by 
Drake,  and  Clive,  and  Wolfe,  and  Amherst.  On  that 
principle  the  greatness  of  Britain  was  founded ;  for  it 
consisted  in  the  recognition  of  some  reasonable  propor- 
tion between  the  risks  and  the  expense  of  hostilities, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  importance  of  the  object  for 
the  sake  of  which  those  hostilities  were  commenced,  on 
the  other.  Was  Long  Island,  (the  Opposition  publi- 
cists inquired,)  worth  one  fortieth  part  of  what  it  had 
taken  to  recover  it .-'  If  England  was  to  reoccupy  the 
whole  of  the  American  coast,  at  the  rate  it  had  cost  to 
regain  Long  Island,  would  the  entire  landed  estate  of 
the  kingdom,  if  sold  to  the  best  bidder,  raise  enough  to 
pay  for  that  ill-omened  conquest  .■' 

A  certain  sense  of  comradeship  between  the  two 
great  branches  of  our  people,  which  the  war  had  not 
extinguished,  was  manifested  in  the  feelings  entertained 
by  many  Englishmen  in  England  towards  the  Revolu- 
tionary leaders  who  had  displayed  energy  and  courage, 
and  particularly  towards  such  as  had  fallen  in  battle. 
After  the  repulse  of  the  Americans  before  Quebec, 
Montgomery's  body,  by  General  Carleton's  order,  was 
borne  into  the  town  with  every  mark  of  reverence  and 
regret,  and  buried  with  military  honours.  When  the 
tidings  of  his  death  reached  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  most  powerful  orators,  not  on  one  side  only,  praised 
his  virtues,  and  lamented  his  fate.  Burke  spoke  of  him 
with  admiration.  Lord  North  acknowledged  that  he 
was  brave,  able,  and  humane,  and  deplored  that  those 
generous  epithets  must  be  applied  to  one  who  had  been 
a  rebel ;  to  which  Charles  Fox  retorted  that  Montgomery 
was  a  rebel  only  in  the  same  sense  as  were  the  old  Par- 


THE  NEWSPAPERS  1 79 

liament  men  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  to  whom  those  he 
saw  around  him  owed  it  that  they  had  a  House  of  Com- 
mons in  which  to  sit.  Some  ministerial  supporters,  — 
making  the  usual  contribution  to  debate  of  senators  who 
are  eager  to  express  their  view,  but  afraid  to  take  the 
floor,  —  greeted  the  remark  with  sarcastic  laughter  ;  and 
that  laughter  brought  up  Colonel  Barre.  He  had  been 
with  Montgomery  where  French  bullets  were  flying, 
and  still  had  one  of  them  embedded  in  his  face ;  and, 
(on  that  occasion,  as  on  others,)  when  Barre  took  upon 
himself  to  rebuke  an  impertinence,  it  was  not  apt  to  be 
repeated.  A  leading  journal  published  its  report  of  the 
evening's  proceeding  in  a  paragraph  edged  with  deep 
black;  and,  to  judge  by  the  general  tone  of  the  press, 
the  same  would  have  been  done  by  other  newspapers  if 
the  idea  had  occurred  to  other  editors.  Close  parallels 
were  drawn,  in  divers  odes  and  sonnets,  between  the 
characters  of  John  Hampden  and  of  Richard  Mont- 
gomery, and  between  the  causes  in  defence  of  which 
they  received  their  death-wounds.  There  appeared 
about  this  time  a  political  pamphlet,  thinly  disguised  as 
a  Dialogue  of  the  Dead; — a  species  of  composition 
which  had  been  consummately  executed  by  Lucian 
sixteen  centuries  ago,  and  more  or  less  vapidly  ever 
since ;  until,  for  the  comfort  of  humanity,  in  this  our 
own  century  it  has  at  length  ceased  to  be  written  at  all. 
The  author  of  this  production,  who  evidently  was  a 
staunch  partisan  of  the  colonists,  professed  to  relate  the 
first  interview  between  Montgomery,  and  his  former 
chief,  General  Wolfe,  when  they  renewed  their  friend- 
ship in  the  Elysian  Fields. ^     Nor  were  American  sym- 

^  "  It  is  a  happy  chance  for  me,  brave  Wolfe,"  (so  Montgomery  began,) 
"to  find  you  alone  in  this  solitary  walk;  since  I  may,  without  being  in- 
terrupted, expatiate  with  you  on  the  unjust  contempt  you  have  shown  me 
from  the  day  of  my  arrival  in  this  delightful  jilace."  That  is  very  well, 
but  not  exactly  in  the  style  of  Lucian.  The  characters  in  the  discussion, 
besides  the  two  principals,  were  George  Grenville  and  Charles  Townshend; 
as  well  as  David  Hume,  who  strolled  out  of  a  shady  valley  to  join  in  the 
talk,  and  eventually  succeeded  in  reconciling  the  whole  ])arty.  Hume 
had  died  in  August  1776,  just  in  time  to  take  a  share  in  the  conviTsation, 

N  2 


l8o  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

pathies  confined  to  those  who  wrote  what  was  intended 
to  be  perused  in  the  safe  seclusion  of  the  study.  A 
play,  dating  from  the  last  French  war,  and  containing 
a  graceful  and  pathetic  allusion  to  the  hero  who  died 
before  Quebec,  was  just  then  being  given  in  London. 
The  passage  had  been  written  for  Wolfe  ;  but  the  theatre 
applied  it  to  Montgomery,  "and  fairly  rocked  with 
applause." 

Washington,  from  the  earliest  hour,  was  handled  by 
the  London  newspapers,  and  in  the  talk  of  London 
society,  after  a  fashion  which  could  hardly  have  been 
more  respectful  if  his  great  destinies  had  already  been 
accomplished.  Indeed,  his  treatment  by  Enghsh  writ- 
ers and  speakers  during  the  war  with  England  is  in 
strong  contrast  to  the  rough  usage  which,  towards  the 
close  of  his  career  and  in  the  heats  of  the  French 
Revolution,  he  frequently  experienced  from  that  section 
of  his  own  countrymen  who  were  opposed  to  his  foreign 
policy.  "General  Washington,"  wrote  a  London  jour- 
nalist in  January  1776,  "has  so  much  martial  dignity  in 
his  deportment  that  you  would  distinguish  him  to  be 
a  General  and  a  Soldier  among  ten  thousand  people. 
There  is  not  a  king  in  Europe  but  would  look  like  a 
valet-de-chambre  by  his  side."  A  still  more  solid  com- 
pHment  was  paid  to  him  by  Lord  Chatham,  who  knew 
well  how  to  address  a  practical-minded  Parliament  which 
commences  business  every  day  by  petitioning  that  its 
monarch  may  be  permitted  in  health  and  wealth  long 
to  live.  "  Mr.  Washington,"  said  Chatham  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  "who  now  commands  what  is  called  this  night 
the  rebel  force,  is  worth  five  thousand  pounds  a  year."  ^ 
The  American  ofificer  who,  at  this  period  of  the  strug- 
gle, had  especially  caught  the  fancy  of  Englishmen,  was 
Benedict  Arnold.  His  dash  and  fire,  his  hairbreadth 
escapes,  the  stories  which  were  afloat  about  his  rollick- 
ing and  masterful  demeanour,  his  cheerfulness  in  defeat, 
—  and,  above  all,  (for  so  Englishmen  are  made,)  his  hard- 
1  Debate  on  the  Address  in  the  House  of  Lords ;  Thursday,  Nov.  20, 
1777. 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH  BRITAIN  l8l 

won  successes,  —  commended  him  to  a  people  which, 
next  to  a  trusty  servant,  loves  a  gallant  enemy.  His 
picture  was  in  shop-windows,  and  on  the  walls  of  many 
private  rooms.  Since  it  was  pretty  clear  that  the  wound 
which  would  keep  him  quiet  was  not  known  to  surgery, 
men  prayed  that  he  might  be  captured  and  brought  a 
prisoner  to  England;  but  they  would  have  been  sin- 
cerely sorry  if  he  had  been  carried  off  by  death. 
One  of  the  most  severe,  and,  (if  such  a  supremacy 
were  possible,)  quite  the  worst-rhymed,  of  all  the  con- 
temporary pasquinades  was  addressed  to  "  the  partial 
paragraphist  of  the  Gazette  who,  after  being  obliged  to 
recount  Colonel  Arnold's  rapid  march,  and  his  bravery 
and  conduct,  thought  fit  to  obscure  his  merit  by  calHng 
him  'one  Arnold.'"  Resentment  against  the  carping 
and  jealous  attitude  of  his  own  Government, —  which 
rankled  in  Arnold's  heart,  and  at  last  impelled  him  to 
his  undoing,  —  was  pointed  and  intensified  by  a  know- 
ledge that  his  martial  qualities  were  cordially  appreciated 
by  that  British  adversary  who  had  so  thoroughly  tested 
them  in  the  field. 

However  large  might  be  the  number  of  our  country- 
men who  could  not  bring  themselves  to  hate  Americans, 
there  was  one  nation,  closer  at  hand,  which  the  great 
mass  of  Englishmen  made  no  pretence  whatever  of 
loving.  The  permanent,  no  less  than  the  ephemeral, 
literature  produced  during  the  first  twenty-five  years  of 
George  the  Third's  reign  was  pervaded,  to  an  extent 
unpleasant  and  even  scandalous,  by  the  animosity  with 
which  his  subjects  south  of  Tweed  regarded  his  subjects 
who  had  been  born,  but  were  not  content  to  live,  north 
of  that  river.  Englishmen  had  some  excuse  for  their 
prejudice  against  Scotchmen,  if  only  they  had  indulged 
it  in  moderation.  Twice  in  human  memory  our  borders 
had  been  penetrated,  and  our  capital  threatened,  by  a 
host  of  armed  mountaineers;  and  those  warriors,  what- 
ever romantic  attributes  they  may  possess  in  the  imagi- 
nation of  posterity,  most  certainly  did  not  impress  their 


1 82  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

contemporaries  as  the  sort  of  people  by  whom  a  highly 
civilised  society  would  willingly  be  conquered  and  over- 
run. In  1 71 5  a  handful  of  Highlanders,  with  some 
Northumberland  fox-hunters  for  cavalry,  had  advanced 
half-way  through  Lancashire  before  they  were  sur- 
rounded and  destroyed  ;  and,  thirty  years  later,  several 
thousand  clansmen  had  marched  to  Derby,  and  had 
given  the  Londoners  a  fright  from  which  not  a  few 
worthy  citizens  never  entirely  recovered. 

But  the  Englishmen  of  1776  had  no  need  to  sharpen 
their  hatred  of  the  Scotch  by  repeating  to  each  other 
old  stories  which  they  had  heard  from  their  fathers  and 
grandfathers.  They  themselves  had  experienced  the 
calamities  and  humiliations  of  a  third  invasion  ;  and 
this  time  the  army  of  occupation  had  arrived  to  stay. 
As  soon  as  Lord  Bute  was  Prime  Minister,  he  summoned 
southward,  (beginning,  but  by  no  means  ending,  with 
his  own  kinsmen  and  retainers,)  a  multitude  of  com- 
patriots to  partake  of  his  good  fortune.  An  assaulting 
force,  which  is  active  and  enterprising,  is  always  esti- 
mated above  its  real  numerical  strength  by  the  party 
of  defence.  Pensions,  and  patent  places,  and  Court 
offices  with  quaint  titles  and  easy  salaries,  —  in  the 
view  of  that  English  governing  class  whose  perquisite 
they  hitherto  had  been, — seemed  fast  becoming  the 
monopoly  of  North  British  peers  and  North  British 
members  of  Parliament.  The  sight  was  all  the  more 
vexatious  because  a  Scotchman  of  family  found  means 
to  save  money,  and  to  buy  land,  from  the  proceeds  of 
an  office  with  the  aid  of  which  an  English  nobleman 
thought  himself  fortunate  if  he  could  keep  the  bailiffs 
out  of  his  town-house,  without  even  contemplating  the 
possibility  of  paying  off  a  farthing  of  the  mortgages 
on  his  country  estate.  Untitled  Scotchmen,  meanwhile, 
abounded  in  the  army,  in  the  navy,  in  the  Government 
departments,  and  in  India  and  the  colonies.  Wherever 
they  might  be  stationed,  they  did  their  work  admirably, 
and,  (instead  of  paying  a  deputy,)  made  a  point  of 
doing  it  themselves.     Idle  Englishmen  of  fashion  saw 


NORTH  AND   SOUTH  BRITAIN  1 83 

with  dismay  that  sinecures,  the  reversion  of  which  they 
held  or  hoped  for,  in  the  hands  of  Scotch  occupants 
were  sinecures  no  longer ;  but,  in  despite  of  their 
industry  and  public  spirit,  their  shrewdness  and  fru- 
gality, —  and  even,  it  is  to  be  feared,  all  the  more  on 
account  of  those  qualities,  —  the  fellow-countrymen  of 
Lord  Bute  met  with  the  very  reverse  of  gratitude  from 
the  nation  which  they  served. ^ 

Although  thirteen  long  and  eventful  years  had 
elapsed  since  Bute  vacated  office  in  1763,  he  was  still 
the  fertile  theme  of  gossip  and  suspicion.  He  had,  indeed, 
been  far  from  a  popular  minister  when  he  stood  openly 
at  the  sovereign's  elbow  as  chief  adviser  and  prime 
favourite  ;  but  he  was  not  less  detested,  and  much  more 
feared,  now  that  he  was  supposed,  most  erroneously 
and  absurdly,  to  be  manipulating  the  wires  from 
behind  the  curtains  of  the  throne.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  public  opinion  has  ever  been  more  profoundly 
affected  by  a  more  general  and  persistent  illusion  than 
in  the  case  of  the  belief  that  Lord  Bute  was  a  motive 
power  of  George  the  Third's  policy  all  the  while  that 
the  American  troubles  were  brewing,  and  as  long 
as  the  war  lasted.  The  Princess  Dowager  had  died 
several  years  before  a  shot  was  fired ;  and  the  last  re- 
mains o^f  her  old  friend's  political  influence  had  died 
with  her.2     And  yet  the  legend  of  an  Interior  Cabinet 

1  The  prevalence  of  these  unamiable  sentiments  is  amusingly  illustrated 
by  a  conversation,  the  printed  report  of  which  remains  to  all  time  the  very 
model  of  artistic  treatment.  When  Johnson  and  Wilkes,  approaching  each 
other  from  the  Antipodes  of  political  opinion,  met  first  at  Mr.  Dilly's  table, 
a  topic  had  to  be  found  about  which  they  were  both  agreed,  and  on  which 
they  both  were  known  to  talk  their  very  best.  By  common  consent,  and 
with  all  the  greater  zest  because  it  was  a  Scotchman  who  had  brought 
them  together,  they  at  once  fell  to  work  against  the  Scotch. 

2  In  [uly  1778  George  the  Third  wrote  to  Lord  North  about  the  rumour 
of  a  political  negotiation  between  the  Earl  of  Chatham  and  the  Earl  of 
Bute.  "  I  have  read  the  narrative,"  (I lis  Majesty  said,)  "  of  what  passed 
between  Sir  James  Wright  and  Dr.  .\ddington,  and  am  fully  convinced 
of  what  1  suspected  before,  that  the  two  old  Earls,  like  old  coachmen, 
still  loved  the  smack  of  the  whip."  Those  were  the  terms  in  which  the 
King  referred  to  Lord  Bute  at  a  time  when,  according  to  Whig  news- 
papers, that  nobleman  was  omnipotent  in  the  secret  counsels  of  the  State. 


184  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

at  Buckingham  House,  where  Bute  had  the  first  and  the 
last  word  in  every  consultation,  and  where  discussions 
were  conducted  in  a  jargon  unintelligible  to  Southron 
Privy  Councillors,  was  an  established  article  of  faith 
with  the  majority  of  patriotic  Englishmen.  Every 
odious  measure,  and  every  unexpected  and  exorbitant 
demand  on  the  Exchequer,  was  habitually  attributed  to 
the  machinations  of  a  phantom  conclave  which  passed 
by  the  name,  sometimes  of  the  Junta,  and  more  often 
of  the  Thane's  Cabinet.  London  was  reminded  several 
times  a  week,  with  a  free  use  of  capital  letters,  that  the 
ruinous  and  unnaturally  wicked  conflict  in  consequence 
of  which  Enghsh  families  were  mourning  the  loss  of 
Husbands,  Sons,  and  Brothers  was  a  Scotch  war; 
engineered  by  the  relentless  Bute,  and  the  bloodthirsty 
Mansfield.  If  once  peace  were  restored,  that  crafty 
and  cruel  Caledonian  Judge  would  no  longer  be  able 
to  harangue  the  House  of  Peers  about  the  duty  of 
killing  men,  and  would  be  reduced,  like  Domitian,  to 
kill  flies. 1  Despatches  from  Scotch  colonial  governors 
had  kindled  the  war ;  Scotch  counsellors  had  promoted 
it ;  Scotch  violence  had  conducted  it ;  and  pamphlets 
from  the  pens  of  Scotch  gazetteers,  —  whose  necessities 
had  taught  them  to  write,  though  they  could  not  talk, 
so  as  to  be  understood  by  Englishmen, —  had  deluded 
simple  people  into  believing  that  the  unconditional 
submission  of  America  was  necessary  for  the  honour 
and  safety  of  Great  Britain.  Those  were  the  doctrines 
preached  three  times  a  week  by  Anti-Sejanus,  and 
Historicus,  and  Politicus,  and  a  whole  tribe  of  able 
and  uncompromising  exponents,  whose  credit  with  the 
public  steadily  grew   as   hostilities  went  forward,  and 

^  Ever  since  Lord  Mansfield  uttered  his  unfortunate  sentence  about 
killing  Americans,  he  passed  in  newspapers  by  a  name  the  use  of  which 
is  the  most  cruel  insult  that  can  be  offered  to  a  British  Judge.  In  Janu- 
ary 1776  it  was  reported  that  the  distress  inside  Boston  exceeded  the 
possibility  of  description,    and  that    our    troops  were    eating    horse-flesh, 

and    burning   the   pews    for    fuel.     "But    the goes    to  the  play,  and 

laughs  as  usual  ;  Jemmy  Twitcher  sings  catches  with  his  mistresses  at 
Huntingdon  ;   and  sly  old  Jeffreys  drops  hints  for  shedding  more  blood." 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH  BRITAIN  1 85 

the  cloud  of  misfortunes  thickened.  When  Burgoyne 
had  been  captured,  and  when  half  Europe  was  on  the 
eve  of  joining  in  an  attack  upon  England,  the  news- 
papers authoritatively  announced,  in  paragraphs  marked 
by  a  semi-official  turn  of  phrase,  that  the  private 
Cabinet,  of  which  the  Earl  of  Bute  was  President,  had 
met  at  an  Honourable  Lady's  house,  and  had  finally 
resolved  to  prosecute  the  war  rather  than  part  with 
their  employments. 

Burke,  in  a  sentence  which  has  been  quoted  in  fa- 
mous debate,^  laid  it  down  that  an  indictment  cannot 
be  brought  against  a  nation.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
can  a  nation  commence  an  action  for  libel  ;  or  else 
Scotland,  in  any  year  between  the  Second  and  Twenty- 
second  of  George  the  Third,  might  have  secured  ex- 
emplary damages  from  her  traducers.  The  ball  of 
vituperation,  set  rolling  by  Churchill  and  Wilkes,  was 
kept  in  motion  by  less  skilful,  but  far  more  unfair  and 
ill-natured,  players,  long  after  Wilkes  had  grown  lazy 
and  indifferent,  and  when  death  had  silenced  Churchill. 
Scotland,  and  all  that  appertained  to  her,  was  the  stock 
subject  for  the  gall  of  the  lampooner  and  the  acid  of 
the  caricaturist ;  until  the  most  omnivorous  collector 
of  eighteenth-century  broadsheets  and  woodcuts  turns 
aside  in  disgust  when  he  espies  the  syllable  "  Mac  "  in 
a  political  ballad,  or  the  flutter  of  a  kilt  in  the  corner 
of  a  coarse  engraving.  The  storm  of  obloquy  rose 
perceptibly  higher  when  the  American  war  began,  and 
waxed  more  fierce  as  it  proceeded.  Sometimes  a  crafty 
adversary, —  meeting  Scotchmen  with  their  own  weap- 
ons, and  affecting  the  character  of  a  political  economist 
whose  feelings  had  been  wounded  by  ministerial  extrav- 
agance, —  put   forth    a  mass  of    exaggerated    statistics 

1  That  was  the  quotation  with  which  Mr.  Gladstone  began  his  reply 
to  a  chivalrous  and  heart-felt  speech,  by  Mr.  Gathorne  Hardy,  just  before 
the  division  on  the  Second  Reading  of  the  Irish  Church  Hill.  Mr.  Hardy 
had  made  two  yet  finer  orations  in  the  course  of  the  two  preceding  years  ; 
but  those,  who  then  heard  Mr.  Gladstone,  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  he 
ever  had  more  profoundly  and  pleasurably  stirred  his  audience  than  on 
that  early  morning  in  March  1869. 


1 86  THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

clustered  round  a  particle  of  fact.  One  day  it  was 
affirmed  that  the  Scotch  did  not  pay  a  fiftieth  propor- 
tion with  the  English  towards  the  Revenue,  while,  upon 
the  most  moderate  computation,  they  enjoyed  above 
half  the  emoluments  of  Government.  On  another 
morning  the  newspapers  published  a  return  of  Scotch- 
men in  receipt  of  public  money,  accompanied  by  an 
apology  to  the  effect  that  the  catalogue  was  unavoidably 
incomplete.  But,  even  so,  the  placemen  and  pensioners, 
whose  names  appeared  on  the  list,  were  represented  as 
drawing  incomes  from  the  Treasury  to  the  tune  of  one 
hundred  thousand  a  year  more  than  the  annual  produce 
of  land-tax  from  the  whole  of  Scotland. 

Anti-ministerial  writers  vehemently  contended  that 
the  continuance  of  the  war,  which  was  ruining  the  larger 
nation,  brought  nothing  except  gain  to  the  smaller  ;  and 
almost  daily  proofs  were  adduced  in  support  of  that 
assertion.!  The  Prohibitory  Act,  forbidding  importa- 
tion from  America,  had  advanced  the  price  of  tobacco 
seventy  per  cent.  Glasgow  merchants,  (it  was  alleged,) 
to  whom  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  had  dropped 
a  hint,  had  laid  in  great  quantities  of  that  commodity, 
and  were  selling  at  their  own  prices ;  since  the  Junta 
would  not  let  slip  such  a  favourable  opportunity  of  ena- 
bling Scotch  middlemen  to  fatten  on  the  plunder  of  Eng- 
lish consumers.  Government  inspectors  were  said  to 
have  passed  without  examination  all  the  stores  provided 
by  Scotch  contractors,  who  accordingly  supplied  the  army 
with  food  too  bad  to  be  eaten  by  any  except  Scotch  sol- 
diers, who  fed  worse  at  home.^     It  was  a  standing  rule, 

1  "A  miserable  remnant  of  English  nobility,  with  a  few  unprincipled 
commoners,  are  cunningly  employed  to  bear  the  odium  of  the  business  ; 
while  embassies,  governments,  contracts,  regiments,  and  all  the  profitable 
jobs  and  employments  created  by  the  calamities  of  the  war,  are  without 
exception  reserved  for  Murrays,  Mackenzies,  Stuarts,  and  Frazers ;  — 
Scotchmen  who  have  been  marked  as  enemies  to  liberty,  and  the  vile 
instruments  of  two  late  horrid  rebellions."  Letter  from  an  Essex  Farmer  ; 
July  21,  1776. 

2  "  A  correspondent  asks  whether  General  Howe  has  any  horses  to 
draw  his  artillery  and  waggons,  without  which  he  will  never  get  to  Phil- 
adelphia.   The  horses  sent  by  Mr.  Fordyce  are  all  dead.     This  is  a  pretty 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH  BRITAIN  1 87 

(so  the  story  ran,)  both  at  the  War  Ofifice  and  the  Ad- 
miralty, that,  when  things  went  wrong,  it  was  never  the 
fault  of  a  Scotchman.  The  Greyhound  frigate,  a  vessel 
of  a  class  that  in  the  last  war  used  to  capture  privateers 
with  thirty-six  guns,  had  been  beaten  off  by  an  American 
ship  carrying  only  twenty-six  cannon  ;  but  the  captain 
was  a  Scotchman,  "  and  the  Ministry  would  sooner,  once 
in  a  while,  confess  Americans  to  be  brave  than  admit 
their  favourite  Scots  to  lack  courage." 

South-countrymen,  who  wished  to  live  out  of  the  taxes, 
could  not  be  expected  to  welcome  the  incursion  of  a  fresh 
and  hungry  herd  into  the  very  pick  of  the  Treasury  pas- 
tures. But  even  those  quiet  and  unaspiring  Englishmen, 
who  were  honourably  contented  to  carry  their  labour  into 
the  open  market,  sincerely  believed  that  the  bread  was 
taken  out  of  their  mouths  by  Scotch  competition ;  and, 
if  they  failed  to  perceive  the  injury  which  was  inflicted 
upon  them,  it  was  not  for  want  of  telling.  A  man  of 
spirit,  (so  they  were  informed,)  would  endeavour  to  ex- 
plore new  lands  until  times  grew  better,  and  would  cross 
the  seas  on  a  butcher's  tray,  if  he  could  not  afford  a 
Thames  wherry,  rather  than  starve  at  home  under  a 
reign  when  none  except  Scotchmen  might  thrive  in  Eng- 
land. A  correspondent,  signing  himself  Hortulanus, 
related  a  sorrowful  tale  which  was  calculated  to  inspire 
uneasiness  in  a  very  large  and  estimable  body  of  work- 
people. He  described  himself  as  having  been  dismissed, 
with  seven  English  gardeners  who  had  worked  under 
him,  by  a  country  gentleman,  a  kind  and  good  master, 
who  had  been  perverted  by  the  example  of  a  great  per- 
son in  the  neighbourhood.  This  un]:)atriotic  nobleman, 
a  member  of  Lord  North's  Administration,  was  extremely 
fond  of  Scotch  architects,  Scotch  politicians,  and  Scotch 
butlers  and  footmen  ;  and  he  employed  no  fewer  than 

job  ;  but  Mr.  For'^lyce  is  a  Scotchman,  and  intends  to  be  member  for 
Colchester.  lie  has  canvassed  the  iooiie,  and  ])rcpared  aw  thinj^s  in 
rearlincss.  Cuntracts  are  fine  thinf^sl  How  many  milliims  of  Mnj^lish 
money  will  the  Scotch  profit  by  in  this  war  ?  "  London  Newspaper  of 
October  the  nth,  1776. 


1 88  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

fourteen  of  the  ten  thousand  Scotch  gardeners  who 
had  ousted  Englishmen  from  all  the  most  expensively- 
equipped  establishments  in  the  south  of  the  island. 
Why,  (the  indignant  writer  asked,)  should  men  born  in 
a  cold  region,  where  neither  plants,  fruits,  nor  flowers, 
could  flourish,  —  where  the  sun  could  not  ripen  a  grape, 
and  where  half-starved  spiders  fed  upon  half-starved 
flies,  —  be  preferred  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  country  for 
which  nature  was  more  generous,  and  the  sun  more  warm 
and  prolific  ?  "  Old  as  I  am  and  encumbered  by  a  fam- 
ily, I  offered  to  work  under  these  Caledonian  favourites  ; 
but  my  offer  was  not  accepted.  The  Steward,  who 
pitied  my  case,  told  me  I  should  lead  a  wretched  life 
with  the  Scots,  who  would  consider  me,  and  treat  me,  as 
a  foreigner ;  for  it  was  their  usual  custom,  on  getting 
into  a  family,  to  introduce  their  own  countrymen,  and 
turn  out  all  the  old  servants."  ^ 

Hortulanus,  in  all  probability,  never  cultivated  any- 
thing except  the  flower-pots  outside  an  attic  window  in 
Soho  ;  but  he,  and  plenty  hke  him,  had  mastered  the 
easy  trick  of  handling  those  topics  of  international  prej- 
udice, and  trade  jealousy,  which  go  straight  home  to 
the  apprehensions  of  common  men.  The  majority  of 
readers,  alarmed  and  sore,  accepted  in  good  faith  these 
provocative  statements,  which  w^ere  often  deliberately 
invented,  or  dishonestly  over-coloured.  They  relished 
their  newspaper  all  the  more  when  it  contained  an 
appeal  to  the  memory  of  a  prince  who,  alive  or  dead, 
was  incomparably  the  most  popular  member  of  the  reign- 
ing family  throughout  the  country,  and  especially  in  the 
capital.  It  has  been  wittily  said  that,  from  the  time 
Lord  Bute  took  office,  many  Englishmen,  and  most  Lon- 

^  The  letter  is  in  the  London  Evening  Post  of  September  ii,  1777. 
Macaulay,  among  his  collection  of  newspapers  relating  to  the  American 
war,  had  acquired  all  the  volumes  of  the  London  Evening  Post  on  which 
he  could  lay  his  hands.  That  was  part  of  the  preparations  made  for  con- 
tinuing his  History  of  England  down  to  a  time  which  was  within  the  mem- 
ory of  men  still  living,  and  for  relating  "  how  imprudence  and  obstinacy 
broke  the  ties  which  bound  the  North  American  colonists  to  the  parent 
state." 


NORTH  AND   SOUTH  BRITAIN  1 89 

doners,  refused  to  admit  any  blemish  on  the  fame  of  the 
victor  of  Culloden,  and  found  no  fault  with  his  Royal 
Highness  except  that  he  had  left  too  many  Camerons 
and  Macphersons  to  be  made  gaugers  and  custom-house 
officers.  Scotchmen,  (wrote  a  vigorous  controversialist,) 
seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in  the  business  of  fetter- 
ing our  fellow-subjects  in  America,  and  of  subjugating  a 
brave,  a  loyal,  and  a  free  people  to  absolute  slavery  and 
bondage ;  but  their  cunning  and  persistent  efforts  were 
really  levelled  not  so  much  against  the  liberties  of  the 
colonists  as  against  the  liberties  of  Englishmen.  "  But, 
alas,  since  the  demise  of  the  Saviour  of  England,  the 
late  worthy  Duke  of  Cumberland,  —  Wully  the  Butcher, 
as  the  Scotch  call  him,  —  an  Englishman  dare  scarce 
look  a  Scotchman  in  the  face."  ^  Such  was  the  over- 
charged invective  which  habitually  disfigured  the  public 
journals.  Our  progenitors,  it  must  be  admitted,  occa- 
sionally came  rather  oddly  by  opinions  which  they  held 
very  stubbornly  ;  and  a  vast  number  of  Englishmen  were 
confirmed  and  rooted  in  their  friendship  towards  America 
because  with  some  cause,  but  out  of  all  measure,  they 
envied  and  disliked  the  Scotch. 

i  Letter  by  Toby  Trim  ;  January  29,  1777. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE   CITY  OF   LONDON.    NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.    THE 
NATION  AND  THE  WAR 

Since  the  beginning  of  that  century  which  now  was 
far  gone,  the  City  of  London,  in  time  of  war,  had 
always  been  a  centre  of  warlike  feeling.  In  1701 
it  eagerly  rallied  to  William  the  Third,  whom  it  did 
not  greatly  love,  when  he  proudly  and  indignantly  ac- 
cepted the  challenge  of  the  French  King.  In  171 1 
the  butchery  of  Malplaquet  had  sickened  the  nation ; 
and  the  national  conscience  was  revolted  by  the  wanton 
prolongation  of  the  horrors  of  a  war,  the  objects  of 
which  might  long  ago  have  been  secured  by  a  prudent 
and  disinterested  Cabinet.  The  new  Tory  Ministry, 
which  had  displaced  Godolphin,  was  actually  negotiat- 
ing with  France ;  and  yet  the  City  of  London  made 
preparations  for  greeting  Marlborough,  as  leader  of  the 
war-party,  with  a  popular  demonstration  so  aggressive 
and  significant  that  it  was  very  properly  suppressed  by 
the  Government  in  the  name  of  peace  and  order.  Dur- 
ing the  Seven  Years'  War  the  Corporation  supported 
Chatham  with  enthusiasm  and  devotion.  After  he 
fell  from  power,  and  was  succeeded  by  ministers  who 
thought  that  there  had  been  enough  fighting,  he  was 
honoured,  —  on  his  way  to  the  Guildhall,  and  inside  its 
walls,  —  with  a  reception  such  as  no  subject  has  ever 
experienced  in  English  history.  But  in  1775  the  hos- 
tilities in  Massachusetts  found  City  opinion  sullen  and 
recalcitrant ;  and  that  state  of  mind  rapidly  developed 
into  angry  and  determined  opposition. 

All  the  four  members  for  London  voted  steadily 
against  the  war  from  first  to  last.      The   Corporation 

190 


THE    CITY  OF  LONDON  I9I 

carried  Humble  Remonstrances  to  the  foot  of  the 
Throne  with  so  much  persistency  that  George  the  Third 
would  almost  as  willingly  have  seen  at  St.  James's  the 
blue  and  yellow  uniforms  of  Washington's  army  as  the 
red  gowns,  and  furred  caps,  and  heavy  gold  chains  of 
the  City  officers.^  Every  successive  appearance  of  that 
all  too  familiar  group  at  the  door  of  his  Presence  Cham- 
ber indicated  that  he  would  once  more  have  to  listen, 
with  some  show  of  civility,  to  a  long  screed  of  manly 
common  sense  which  he  strongly  suspected  Mr.  Alder- 
man Wilkes  of  having  drafted.  The  Recorder  of  Lon- 
don wore  mourning  in  public  "  for  the  brothers  whom 
he  had  lost  at  Lexington ;  "  and  his  conduct  so  far  met 
the  view  of  those  who  had  elected  him  that,  when  he 
died  no  long  time  after,  the  Court  of  Aldermen  ap- 
pointed a  successor  who  notoriously  held  the  same 
opinions.  Through  these  trying  months  John  Saw- 
bridge  was  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  City,  as  well  as  one 
of  its  parliamentary  representatives.  He  was  a  person 
of  social  consequence;  a  country  gentleman,  a  Colonel  of 
Militia  in  his  county,  and  a  high  authority  in  the  clubs 
of  St.  James's  Street,  where  he  was  accounted  the  best 
whist  player  in  town.  Wealthy,  proud,  and  honest,  he 
was  beholden  to  no  minister,  and  afraid  of  no  one.  He 
had  stood  up  in  face  of  the  Government  majority  at 
Westminster,  in  its  most  insolent  moods,  as  often  and  as 
sturdily  as  did  Barre,  and  Savile,  and  Dowdeswell ;  and 
only  less  frequently  than  Edmund  Burke  and  Charles 
Fox.  The  courage  and  vigour  with  which,  at  the  Man- 
sion House  and  in  the  Commons,  Sawbridge  thwarted 
and  rebuked  the  operations  of  the  Cabinet,  secured  him 
enormous  popularity  as  Lord  Mayor,  and  a  safe  seat  for 
life  as  a  member  for  the  City. 

Sawbridge  strengthened  his  influence  among  Livery- 
men by  the  somewhat  unscrupulous  audacity  with  which 

^  "The  day  Vjefore  the  Sheriffs  went  to  know  when  the  King  would 
receive  the  Address,  he  said  t(j  a  young  man  wlio  was  hunting  with  him  ; 
'I  must  go  to  town  to-morrow  to  receive  those  fellows  in  furs.  They  will 
not  be  very  glad  to  see  me,  nor  I  them.'  "     J.iiit  Joitrniils  ;   l)ec.  1781. 


192  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

he  asserted  the  privileges  axid  immunities  of  the  City  in 
a  matter  about  which  almost  all  citizens  were  of  one 
mind.  At  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  the  Board  of 
Admiralty  was  even  more  behindhand  in  its  prepara- 
tions than  the  \Var  Office,  and  with  less  excuse.  Lord 
Barrington,  the  Secretary  at  War,  had  always  cherished 
a  hope  that  the  dispute  would  be  settled  by  negotiation, 
and  had  done  what  he  dared,  (which  was  not  much,)  to 
bring  that  result  about;  whereas  Sandwich,  the  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  —  who  was  in  the  inner  counsels 
of  the  Government,  and  the  spokesman  for  his  colleagues 
in  the  House  of  Peers, — had  consistently  laboured,  both  in 
Parliament  and  behind  the  scenes,  to  embroil  the  rela- 
tions between  England  and  her  colonies.  He,  at  all 
events,  was  bound  to  provide  that,  so  far  as  his  own 
Department  was  concerned,  the  country  should  be  in 
a  position  promptly,  and  strongly,  to  enforce  by  arms  a 
policy  for  the  adoption  of  which  he  himself  was  so  largely 
responsible.  And  yet,  as  late  as  December  1774,  he 
had  deliberately  reduced  the  Navy  by  four  thousand 
men,  on  a  total  strength  of  twenty  thousand,  of  whom 
a  full  quarter  were  Royal  Marines.  Eleven  months 
afterwards  he  called  on  Parliament  to  vote  an  addition 
of  twelve  thousand  men.  The  number  of  seamen  was 
doubled  in  a  single  evening  ;  and  the  process  of  violently 
and  suddenly  withdrawing  so  vast  a  multitude  from  their 
homes,  their  habits,  and  their  avocations,  paralysed  com- 
merce, and  caused  wide-reaching  and  unnecessary  suffer- 
ing to  individuals. 

The  newspapers  made  known  the  story  with  a 
copious  employment  of  those  nautical  terms  which 
were  familiar  to  a  sea-going  nation.  Thirty  sail  of 
ships,  (it  was  reported,)  were  "tumbling  in  Yarmouth 
Roads  at  single  anchor,"  without  anyone  on  board  any 
of  them  except  the  master,  and  a  few  little  cabin-boys. 
As  many  more  lay  in  Harwich  harbour,  losing  their 
voyage  at  a  time  when  there  was  a  great  demand  for 
their  cargoes  in  the  London  markets.  A  captain,  who 
owned   his  vessel,   and  whose  sailors  had  been  taken 


THE    CITY  OF  LONDON 


193 


out  of  her  by  the  press-gang  m  an  Essex  haven,  paid 
fifty-six  guineas  for  a  crew  to  work  her  round  to 
London;  whereas,  with  his  own  people  to  help  him, 
it  would  have  been  done  for  as  many  shillings.  The 
mariners  of  the  Northern  counties,  formidable  in  a  strike 
or  a  Revenue-riot,  were  not  submissive  under  this  more 
serious  invasion  of  their  liberty.  Hundreds  of  prime 
seamen  left  their  famiUes  penniless  in  the  ports  of 
Durham  and  Northumberland,  and  ran  off,  with  the 
project  of  remaining  away  until  the  heat  of  the  Press 
was  abated.  But  that  time  was  long  in  arriving ;  for 
the  maritime  conscription  grew  more  active  and"  strin- 
gent as  the  necessities  of  the  country  deepened,  and 
her  enemies  multiplied.  Discontent  after  a  while  led 
to  open  violence.  The  impressed  men,  on  board  a 
tender  in  the  river  between  North  and  South  Shields, 
rose  upon  the  crew,  took  possession  of  the  ship,  and 
carried  her  to  sea  under  cannon-fire  from  her  consorts, 
and  from  a  fort  which  protected  the  entrance  of  the 
channel.  A  week  or  two  afterwards  a  Lieutenant  of 
the  Royal  Navy  organised  a  raid  upon  the  Colliers 
which  lay  in  the  estuary.  A  great  number  of  sailors 
came  to  the  help  of  the  vessel  which  he  first  attacked, 
and  mustered  on  the  forecastle  to  repel  boarders.  The 
fight  commenced  with  lumps  of  coal  and  billets  of 
wood  on  the  part  of  the  defenders,  answered  on  the 
other  side  by  a  blunderbuss,  which  first  missed  fire, 
and  then  killed  a  man  at  whom  it  had  not  been  aimed. 
Newcastle  citizens,  who  had  learned  by  repeated  ex- 
perience the  temper  and  quality  of  a  Quayside  mob, 
felt  greatly  relieved  when  they  ascertained  that  Lieu- 
tenant Oakes  and  his  party  had  escaped  with  their 
lives. ^ 

In  and  below  London  the  misery  was  intense ;  and 
the  resistance  of  the  sufferers,  though  less  determined, 
entailed  a  longer  list  of  fatal  accidents.  Upwards  of  a 
thousand  seamen  were  captured  in  the  Thames  alone. 

"^  Local  Records  of  Northumberland  and  DurluDn  ;  by  John  Sykes, 
Newcastle,  1832. 

VOL.  HI.  o 


194  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Towards  the  end  of  October  1776,  twenty  armed  boats 
came  up  river  from  Deptford  and  Woolwich,  and  took 
every  man,  except  the  master  and  mate,  from  every 
ship  that  they  found  in  the  stream.  A  Royal  officer 
was  shot  with  a  pistol  as  he  went  up  the  side  of  a 
vessel ;  and  eight  merchant-sailors  endeavoured  to  es- 
cape by  swimming,  and  were  drowned  in  the  attempt. 
The  West  Indian  captains,  especially,  were  in  pitiable 
case.  They  had  everything  ready  for  weighing  anchor. 
Their  holds  were  full ;  they  had  paid  their  crews  for 
the  time  spent  in  the  river,  and  for  a  month  of  the 
voyage  in  advance ;  and  now  every  man  who  slept 
before  the  mast  was  carried  off  with  his  money  in  his 
pocket.  The  needs  of  the  Royal  Navy  had  to  be  met 
with  a  hurry  which  did  not  admit  of  careful  selection, 
or  of  a  decent  regard  for  individual  claims  to  indulgence 
and  consideration.  The  hatches  of  the  tenders  were 
battened  down  upon  a  mixed  crowd  of  fisher-folk 
and  merchant-sailors,  with  sore  hearts  and  undressed 
wounds;  of  townsmen  who  had  never  been  on  board  a 
ship  before ;  and  of  old  broken  mariners  who  had  gone 
to  sea  so  often,  and  for  so  long,  that  they  had  earned  a 
right  to  spend  the  rest  of  their  days  where,  and  how, 
they  chose.  One  press-gang  had  to  answer  in  the  law- 
courts  for  having  laid  hands  on  a  veteran  whose  skull 
had  been  fractured  in  the  last  French  war.  Another 
swept  off  a  group  of  people  from  a  lottery  office,  while 
they  were  engaged  on  insuring  the  numbers  which  they 
had  drawn.  "Come,  my  lads,"  said  the  lieutenant,  "  I 
will  insure  you  for  good  berths  on  board  a  ship  of  war." 
A  knot  of  labouring  men,  who  had  been  buying  their 
family  dinners,  were  assailed  on  their  way  homewards, 
and  showed  fight  to  some  purpose.  One  sailor  was 
knocked  down  with  a  leg  of  mutton,  and  another  with  a 
bundle  of  turnips ;  and,  before  their  party  could  make 
good  their  retreat,  the  whole  of  them  had  been  ducked 
by  the  crowd.  That  was  a  touch  of  pantomime,  in  the 
midst  of  many  silent  and  obscure  domestic  tragedies. 
An  advertisement  appeared  to  the  effect  that  the  bodies 


THE   CITY  OF  LONDON  I95 

of  five  impressed  men,  suffocated  in  the  hold  of  the 
Hunter  tender,  had  been  brought  on  shore  to  be  owned. 
It  was  uncongenial  work  for  bluff,  hearty,  tars  who  were 
told  off  for  that  odious  duty.  The  crime,  (so  a  spirited 
journalist  reminded  his  readers,)  rested  not  on  the 
sailor's  bludgeon,  nor  on  the  lieutenant's  cutlass,  but  on 
the  unthinking  head  of  a  minister  who,  through  many 
years  of  peace,  forgot  the  future  probability  of  a  war, 
and  left  every  precaution  alone  until  it  was  too  late  to 
act  without  violating  humanity. 

Enthusiasm  for  the  naval  service  there  was  none. 
The  war  was  barren  of  prize  money ;  no  glory  was  to 
be  obtained  out  of  a  campaign  against  privateers  com- 
manded by  Yankee  skippers  who  knew  very  well  when 
to  attack,  and  when  and  whither  to  run ;  and,  moreover, 
many  a  poor  fellow,  who  in  days  gone  by  had  helped  to 
beat  the  French  and  Spaniards,  was  in  his  rude  way  a 
patriot.  Mariners,  who  had  served  the  guns  under 
Hawke  and  Saunders,  had  no  mind  for  exchanging  shot 
and  blows  with  men  who  fought  their  ship  in  English 
fashion,  and  who,  when  the  battle  had  gone  against 
them,  begged  for  quarter  with  an  English  tongue.  The 
irritation  caused  by  the  harsh  and  precipitate  action  of 
the  Admiralty  was  general  throughout  London,  and  no- 
where so  acute  as  within  the  City  bounds.  It  was  a 
short  journey  to  Cornhill  from  Rotherhithe  and  Green- 
wich, opposite  the  river  front  of  which  the  Jamaica  fleet 
lay,  and  seemed  likely  to  lie  until  the  timbers  rotted ; 
and  West  Indian  captains,  and  their  employers,  might 
be  seen  whispering  together  with  long  faces  under  the 
colonnades  of  the  Royal  Exchange,  and  across  the  tables 
of  the  neighbouring  coffee-houses.  The  dignity  of  the 
Corporation  was  offended  by  the  invasion  of  the  press- 
gangs  ;  and  the  City  fathers  had  been  touched  in  a  ten- 
der point,  for  the  supply  of  fish  was  scanty  and  irregular. 
Essex  boatmen  had  transferred  themselves  and  their 
nets  to  Holland ;  and  a  naval  officer,  of  more  than 
common  hardihood,  braving  a  storm  of  malediction 
from  the  conception  (jf  which  the  imagination  shrinks, 

oa 


196  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

laid  forcible  hands  on  a  number  of  seamen  in  the  ver)» 
heart  of  Billingsgate  market. 

That  district  lay  within  the  Lord  Mayor's  jurisdic- 
tion ;  and  the  situation  was  still  further  strained  by  the 
impressment  of  Mr.  John  Tubbs,  a  Waterman  of  the 
Lord  Mayor's  Barge. ^  The  outraged  Magistrate  issued 
an  order  for  the  apprehension  of  all  naval  officers  who 
carried  on  their  operations  inside  the  limits  of  the  City. 
Three  lieutenants  and  a  mate,  belonging  to  a  ship  of 
the  line,  were  arrested,  and  brought  before  the  Guild- 
hall Bench.  A  very  eminent  Judge  attended  the 
examination  in  order  to  support  the  accused  officers 
with  his  countenance  and  advice.  His  Lordship  was 
stiffly  rebuked  by  the  sitting  Aldermen,  who  told  him 
that  they  themselves  would  never  venture  to  intrude 
their  presence  upon  him  in  his  own  Court  on  such  an 
errand.  The  defendants  refused  to  find  bail,  and  were 
duly  committed  to  the  Poultry  Counter,  where  they 
remained  in  durance  until  the  Attorney  and  Solicitor 
General  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  bail  had  better  be 
procured.  At  one  moment  it  seemed  as  if  the  forcible 
enlistment  of  seamen  within  the  City  would  be  imprac- 
ticable. The  Lord  Mayor  declined  to  back  the  press- 
warrants  ;  and  his  example  was  afterwards  followed  by 
Sir  Thomas  Halifax,  his  successor  in  the  Chair.  But 
that  difficulty  was  surmounted  by  the  warrants  being 
taken  for  signature  to  Alderman  Harley,  as  stout  a 
Tory  as  ever  Sawbridge  was  a  Whig.  Harley,  who  was 
grand-nephew  of  the  celebrated  Earl  of  Oxford,  had  a 
good  hereditary  title  to  show  for  his  political  opinions  ; 
and,  as  a  firm  supporter  of  Lord  North,  he  had  oppor- 

^  Rex  versus  Tubbs  became  a  leading  case  in  the  King's  Bench,  where 
Lord  Mansfield  took  occasion  to  deliver  himself  in  favour  of  the  legality 
of  pressing  for  the  Royal  Navy.  "A  pressed  sailor,"  he  pronounced,  "is 
not  a  slave.  No  compulsion  can  be  put  upon  him  except  to  serve  his 
country  ;  and,  while  doing  so,  he  is  entitled  to  claim  all  the  rights  of  an 
Englishman."  The  readers  of  Smollett,  and  even  of  Captain  Marryat, 
may  be  permitted  to  question  what  those  rights  were  worth  to  a  landsman 
with  a  broken  head,  imprisoned  many  feet  below  the  water-line  in  the 
hold  of  a  frigate  which  had  put  to  sea  for  a  three  years'  cruise  in  distant 
waters. 


THE    CITY   OF  LONDON  1 97 

tunities   placed   at  his  disposal  which   enabled   him  to 
make  a  mountain  of  money  by  the  war.^ 

There  had  been  a  war  anterior  to  1776,  and  there 
have  been  wars  since,  when  the  youth  of  the  City,  — 
abandoning  the  employments  by  which  they  lived,  and 
giving  up,  in  some  cases,  assured  and  attractive  prospects 
of  commercial  advancement,  —  took  arms  for  the  prose- 
cution of  a  quarrel  which  they  regarded  as  their  coun- 
try's cause.  But  the  dispute  with  America  excited  no 
enthusiasm  in  the  mercantile  community.  Whatever 
martial  ambition  might  exist  among  respectable  civilians 
was  deadened  and  discouraged  by  the  humiUating  possi- 
bilities which  awaited  every  volunteer  who  donned  the 
scarlet  coat.  It  was  almost  universally  believed  in  mili- 
tary circles  that  flogging  was  a  valuable  preservative  of 
discipline  at  home,  and  quite  indispensable  on  active 
service.  That  last  named  article  of  belief  has  died  hard, 
and  it  survived  the  longest  in  official  quarters.  It  was 
the  task  of  independent  members  of  Parhament,  some  of 
whom  are  not  yet  old  men,  to  break  it  down  by  argu- 
ment ;  and  practical  experience,  on  a  scale  and  of  a 
nature  which  enforces  conviction,  has  now  finally  settled 

1  The  impunity  with  which  press-gangs  acted,  and  the  terror  that  they 
inspired  among  humble  civilians,  are  amusingly  illustrated  by  a  story 
from  the  unpublished  Memoirs  of  Archbishop  Markham.  Some  years 
after  the  American  war  a  party  of  Westminster  boys  dressed  themselves  up 
as  men-of-\varsmen  ; — which  was  not  difficult  in  days  when  an  officer 
kept  watch  on  board  ship  in  any  costume  which  he  found  most  com- 
fortable. They  stationed  themselves  at  the  corner  of  Abingdon  Street, 
and  were  heacled  by  a  stout  lad  in  a  pea-jacket  and  hairy  cap,  "  who  had 
acquired  the  art  of  making  a  cat-call  by  whistling  through  his  fingers,"  and 
who  personated  the  lieutenant.  They  promptly  pounced  on  the  first  passer- 
by; examined  him;  pronounced  him  a  fit  person  to  serve  his  Majesty;  and 
then  dexterously  loosed  their  hold,  and  allowed  him  to  run.  While  they 
were  occupied  over  their  fifth  victim,  an  under-master  came  by,  and  the 
sport  entied.  Dr.  Vincent  thought  the  affair  so  serious  that  he  called  in 
the  Archbishop,  whn  in  his  day  had  been  a  Head-master  of  Westminster 
with  whom  no  scholar  ever  trified.  "  That,"  said  the  old  man  of  the  world, 
"  was  a  very  smart  piece  of  fun.  Now  do  show  me  the  hairy  cap  !  "  and 
the  boys  got  off  with  a  hundred  lines  of  Virgil  apiece. 

It  was  said  that  gold-laced  hats  were  worn  by  people  who  could  ill 
afford  them,  because  they  had  a  military  look,  and  were  therefore  a  pro- 
tection against  the  attenti(jns  of  the  press-gang. 


198  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  controversy.  Within  the  last  four  years,  in  South 
Africa,  order  and  obedience  have  been  effectively  main- 
tained, without  recourse  to  corporal  punishment,  in  by 
far  the  largest  and  the  most  variously  constituted  force 
that  Great  Britain  ever  put  into  the  field,  and  kept  there 
over  a  very  long  space  of  time  under  circumstances 
exceptionally  trying  to  the  spirits  and  temper  of  an  army. 
Some  of  our  most  distinguished  officers,  for  more  than  a 
century  past,  felt  sufficient  faith  in  their  countrymen  to 
anticipate  a  happy  result  which  now  is  matter  of  history;  ^ 
but,  during  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution,  such 
wise  and  far-seeing  prophets  were  few.  On  an  April 
day  of  1777  the  whole  neighbourhood  of  Whitehall  was 
disturbed  by  the  most  dreadful  shrieks,  proceeding  from 
the  Parade-ground  behind  the  Horse-Guards  and  the 
Treasury.  A  soldier  was  receiving  the  first  Instalment 
of  a  thousand  lashes;  and  a  hundred  were  afterwards 
inflicted  upon  a  drummer  whose  heart  had  failed  him 
during  the  operation.  When  such  things  were  done  in 
St.  James's  Park,  a  stockbroker  or  a  clerk,  of  reputable 
character  and  good  position,  would  unavoidably  reflect 
as  to  what  might  be  his  fate  when  he  was  on  detached 
service  in  the  backwoods  of  America,  at  the  mercy  of  an 
unfriendly  and  tyrannical  sergeant  who  possessed  the 
confidence  of  the  regimental  officers. 

1  "  At  the  same  time  that  the  British  soldiers  were  maintaining  with 
such  devoted  fortitude  the  glory  of  England,  their  camps  daily  presented 
the  most  disgusting  and  painful  scenes.  Tiie  halberts  were  regularly 
erected  along  the  lines  every  morning,  and  the  shrieks  of  the  sufferers 
made  a  pandemonium,  from  which  the  foreigner  fled  with  terror  and 
astonishment  at  the  severity  of  our  military  code.  Drunkenness  was  the 
vice  of  the  officers  and  men  ;  but  the  men  paid  the  penalty ;  and  the  offi- 
cers who  sate  in  judgement  in  the  morning  were  too  often  scarcely  sober 
from  the  last  night's  debauch.  It  will  be  a  consummation  of  my  most 
anxious  wishes,  grounded  upon  my  memory  of  these  early  scenes  of  abuse 
of  power,  when  the  system  of  punishment,  such  as  I  have  described  it, 
shall  be  referred  to  only  as  a  traditional  exaggeration."  So  wrote  General 
Sir  Robert  Wilson  with  reference  to  the  campaign  in  Flanders  of  the  year 
1794.  That  was  the  end  of  what  had  been  worst.  The  standard  of  per- 
sonal behaviour  among  officers  in  Wellington's  Peninsular  army  was  high  ; 
and  punishments,  though  still  very  severe,  became  less  frequent  when  the 
soldiers  could  look  to  their  superiors  for  a  worthy  example,  and  for  watch- 
ful and  kindly  guidance. 


THE    CITY   OF  LONDON  1 99 

The  American  war  brought  into  the  City  a  tribe  of 
interlopers  whose  presence  there  was  viewed  with  moral 
repugnance  by  the  worthiest  portion  of  the  community, 
and  who  inflicted  very  serious  damage  upon  the  material 
interests  of  established  traders  and  financiers.  Some- 
times it  was  a  man  of  rank  and  pleasure,  and  sometimes 
an  impudent  and  voluble  upstart  of  doubtful  antecedents, 
who  came  eastward  through  Temple  Bar  armed  with  a 
contract  for  rum,  or  beef,  or  army-cloth,  which  replaced 
to  him,  many  times  over,  the  three  or  four  thousand 
pounds  that  he  had  sunk  in  the  purchase  of  his  seat  for 
a  Cornish  borough.  When  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer had  recourse  to  one  of  his  frequent  borrowings, 
he  passed  over  the  hereditary  bankers  whom  investors 
trusted,  and  who  would  have  been  satisfied  with  a  fair 
and  reasonable  commission  for  their  risk  and  trouble. 
The  money  was  largely  raised  through  the  agency  of  a 
great  number  of  members  of  Parliament,  —  who,  for  the 
most  part,  had  never  lent  anything  before  in  their  lives, 
but  had  borrowed  much,  —  on  terms  of  scandalous  laxity 
which  had  been  arranged  for  the  express  purpose  of 
rewarding  them  for  their  votes.  Lord  North  himself 
admitted  that,  on  a  single  loan  of  twelve  millions,  up- 
wards of  a  million  had  gone  in  clear  profit  among  the 
individuals  to  whom  it  had  been  allotted  ;  and  half  of 
them  were  politicians  who  sate  behind  him  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  "  I  agree  with  you,"  (Lord  Abingdon 
wrote  to  Lord  Rockingham,)  "in  thinking  the  loan  to  be 
a  very  abominable  transaction."  That  was  how  clean- 
handed senators  viewed  the  disgraceful  proceedings ; 
but  harder  things  still  were  said  in  bank-parlours.  The 
spectacle  of  fine  gentlemen,  and  of  some  gentlemen  who 
were  anything  but  fine,  masquerading  about  Thread- 
needle  Street  and  Birchin  Lane  with  the  air  of  partners 
in  Glyn's  or  Child's,  and  talking  a  financial  jargon  which 
they  supposed  to  resemble  the  conversation  of  the 
capitalists  whose  gains  they  intercepted,  inspired  in 
genuine  City  men  a  disgust  which,  (since  they  were 
neither  more  nor  less  than  human,)  pointed  and  sharp- 


2CX)  THE  AMERICA.Y  REVOLUTION 

ened  their  disapprobation  of  the  Government  policy  in 
America. 

That  disapprobation  was  grounded  upon  large  know- 
ledge and  long  observation.  The  City  had  been  firmly 
persuaded  that  the  knot  of  colonial  discontent  could 
never  be  cut  by  the  sword.  The  Funds  always  fell  after 
British  defeats,  and  never  very  visibly  recovered  them- 
selves in  consequence  of  a  British  victory.  In  August 
1774,  before  the  Revolution  began,  the  Three  per  Cent. 
Consols  stood  at  89.  A  month  before  the  news  of  Long 
Island  arrived  in  London  they  were  at  84 ;  a  fortnight 
after  that  news  they  were  at  82 ;  and  that  was  all  the 
effect  produced  by  a  complete  rout  of  the  Americans, 
which  was  hailed  by  courtiers  at  home,  and  English 
diplomatists  abroad,  as  a  most  reassuring,  and  almost  a 
conclusive,  success.  By  October  1777  Consols  had  fallen 
to  'jZ.  The  tidings  of  the  capture  of  Burgoyne  brought 
them  down  to  70.  They  fell,  and  fell,  until  the  capitu- 
lation of  Lord  CornwaUis  reduced  them  to  54;  and  they 
could  hardly  have  gone  lower  if  they  were  to  retain  any 
value  at  all.  Then  Lord  North  made  way  for  a  Min- 
istry pledged  to  recognise  the  independence  of  America, 
and  to  abandon  the  right  of  taxing  her  wealth  and  con- 
trolling her  commerce ;  a  right  which  Lord  North  and 
his  adherents  had  always  insisted  to  be  absolutely  essen- 
tial for  maintaining  the  prosperity  of  British  trade  and 
British  manufactures.  And  yet  Consols,  when  the  situa- 
tion came  to  be  understood,  rose  six  points  on  the  mere 
prospect  of  a  peaceful  settlement  with  our  former  colo- 
nies ;  although  England  was  still  at  war,  all  the  world 
over,  with  France,  Spain,  and  Holland.  The  silent 
testimony  of  the  Stocks,  those  authentic  witnesses  who 
never  boast  and  never  flatter,  unanswerably  proves  that 
the  City  of  London  at  no  period  shared  with  the  Court 
and  the  Cabinet  in  the  delusion  that  the  colonies  could 
be  subdued  by  arms. 

The  state  of  opinion  in  London  was  evident  on  the 
surface ;  but  it  is  more  difficult  to  collect  indications  of 
the  feeling  which  prevailed  elsewhere.    The  sentiments, 


THE    CITY  OF  LONDON  201 

however,  which  were  current  in  one  famous  region  of 
industry  and  enterprise  have  been  recorded  by  a  wit- 
ness whose  evidence  on  this  point  is  above  suspicion. 
Samuel  Curwen,  a  prominent  Massachusetts  Loyalist, 
—  who  had  been  a  high  official  in  his  native  province, 
and  who  now  was  an  exile  in  England,  —  made  a  tour 
in  the  Midland  counties,  and  spent  a  week  at  Birming- 
ham. Walking  there  on  the  Lichfield  road,  Curwen 
was  invited  indoors  by  a  Quaker,  and  found  him  "  a 
warm  American,  as  most  of  the  middle  classes  are 
through  the  Kingdom."  He  passed  an  agreeable  day 
with  a  merchant,  who  had  been  in  America,  and  who 
was  "her  steady  and  ardent  advocate."  He  stepped 
into  the  shop  of  a  gunmaker.  The  British  Ministry, — 
with  foresight  which,  for  the  War  Office,  might  almost 
be  called  inspiration,  —  had  given  the  man  an  order  to 
construct  six  hundred  rifles  for  the  use  of  General 
Howe's  army:  and  yet,  (said  Curwen,)  "he  is  an  anti- 
ministeriaHst,  as  is  the  whole  town."  ^  If  such  was  the 
case  in  a  district  where  Government  orders  for  military 
supplies  had  been  freely  placed,  it  may  well  be  believed 
that  political  discontent  and  disgust  were  not  less  acute 
in  those  commercial  centres  which  greatly  suffered,  and 
in  no  way  profited,  by  the  existence  of  hostilities.  York- 
shire manufacturers,  especially,  had  no  part  in  the  war 
except  to  pay  increased  taxes ;  to  borrow  from  their 
banker  on  terms,  that  every  month  grew  worse,  money 
that  every  month  they  needed  more ;  and  to  see  their 
warehouses  glutted  with  goods  which  they  were  for- 
bidden to  sell  to  those  New  Englanders,  and  Penn- 
sylvanians,  who  had  formerly  been  their  very  best 
customers.  "  In  the  West  Riding,"  wrote  John  Wesley, 
"  a  tenant  of  Lord  Dartmouth  was  telling  me,  '  Sir,  our 
tradesmen  are  breaking  all  round  me,  so  that  I  know 
not  what  the  end  will  be.'  Even  in  Leeds  I  had 
appointed  to  dine  at  a  merchant's ;  but,  before  I  came, 
the  bailiffs  were  in  possession  of  the  house.  Upon  my 
saying,  '  I  thought  Mr.  had  been  in  good  circum- 

'  Samuel  Curwen's /owrwrt/ for  August  1776. 


202  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Stances,'  I  was  answered,  '  He  was  so,  but  the  American 
war  has  ruined  him.'  "  ^ 

That  war  was  marked  by  a  feature  unique  in  English 
history.  Not  a  few  officers  of  every  grade,  who  were 
for  the  most  part  distinguished  by  valour  and  ability, 
flatly  refused  to  serve  against  the  colonists ;  and  their 
scruples  were  respected  by  their  countrymen  in  general, 
and  by  the  King  and  his  ministers  as  well.  An  example 
was  set  in  the  highest  quarters.  The  sailor  and  the  sol- 
dier who  stood  first  in  the  public  esteem  were  Augustus 
Keppel,  Vice  Admiral  of  the  White,  and  Lieutenant 
General  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst.  Keppel  made  it  known 
that  he  was  ready  as  ever  to  serve  against  a  European 
enemy,  but  that,  although  professional  employment  was 
the  dearest  object  of  his  life,  he  would  not  accept  it  "  in 
the  line  of  America."  After  that  announcement  was 
made,  and  to  some  degree  on  account  of  it,  he  enjoyed 
a  great,  and  indeed  an  extravagant,  popularity  among 
all  ranks  of  the  Navy ;  and,  when  a  European  war  broke 
out,  he  was  promoted,  and  placed  in  command  of  the 
Channel  Fleet,  Amherst  had  absolutely  declined  to  sail 
for  New  England  in  order  to  lead  troops  in  the  field. 
He  withstood  the  expostulations  and  entreaties  of  his 
Sovereign,  who  in  a  personal  interview,  (as  Dr.  Johnson 
truly  testified,)  was  as  fine  a  gentleman  as  the  world 
could  see ;  and  who  never  was  more  persuasive  and 
impressive  than  when  condescending  to  request  one  of 
his  subjects  to  undertake  a  public  duty  as  a  private 
favor  to  himself.  The  circumstance  was  not  remem- 
bered to  Amherst's  disadvantage.  He  was  retained  as 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  forces ;  within  the  ensuing 
five  years  he  became  a  peer,  the  Colonel  of  a  regiment 
of  Household  Cavalry,  and  a  full  General  in  the  army ; 
and  he  died  a  Field-Marshal. 

Amherst,  although  determined  not  to  fight  against  the 
colonists,  who  had  fought  so  well  under  him,  was  a  poli- 

1  John  Wesley  to  Lord  Dartmouth:  Historical  Manuscripts  Com- 
mission ;  Fifteenth  Report,  Appendix,  Part  I. 


THE  NATION  AND    THE    WAR  203 

tical  friend  of  the  existing  Administration  ;  and,  in  the 
main,  a  supporter  of  their  colonial  policy.  His  course 
of  action  naturally  enough  commended  itself  to  military 
men  who  were  opposed  to  the  Government,  and  who  be- 
lieved that  the  American  question  had  been  grievously 
mismanaged.  Their  views  obtained  expression  in  a 
statement  made  by  a  brother-soldier,  whom  of  all  others 
they  would  have  chosen  for  their  spokesman.  Conway, 
like  Amherst,  terminated  his  career  a  Field-Marshal ; 
but  his  most  glorious  and  joyous  years  were  those  which 
he  passed  as  aide-de-camp  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  in 
Flanders.  The  immediate  vicinity  of  that  intrepid  prince, 
during  a  battle,  was  quite  hot  enough  for  most  people, 
but  not  for  Harry  Conway.  At  Fontenoy  the  young 
fellow  contrived,  on  his  own  account,  to  get  hand  to  hand 
with  two  French  grenadiers ;  and  at  Lauffeld  he  was 
within  a  finger's  breadth  of  being  killed  in  a  desperate 
scuffle  with  some  French  hussars.  His  courage,  how- 
ever, had  seldom  been  so  severely  tested  as  when,  in 
November  1775,  he  addressed  the  House  of  Commons 
on  the  limits  of  military  obedience.  That  subject,  (he 
said,)  having  been  started  in  Parliament,  it  might  look 
like  an  unworthy  shrinking  from  the  question  if  he  did 
not  say  a  few  words  to  it.  No  struggle  in  the  mind  of 
a  military  man  could  be  so  dreadful  as  any  doubt  of  this 
kind.  There  was  a  great  difference  between  a  foreign 
war,  where  the  whole  community  was  involved,  and  a 
domestic  war  on  points  of  civil  contention,  where  the 
community  was  divided.  In  the  first  case  no  officer 
ought  to  call  in  question  the  justice  of  his  country  ;  but, 
in  the  latter,  a  military  man,  before  he  drew  his  sword 
against  his  fellow-subjects,  ought  to  ask  himself  whether 
the  cause  were  just  or  no.  Unless  his  mind  was  satis- 
fied on  that  point,  all  emoluments,  —  nay,  the  sacrifice  of 
what  people  in  his  situation  held  dearest,  their  honour, — 
would  be  nothing  in  the  scale  with  his  conscience.  He, 
for  his  part,  never  could  draw  his  sword  in  that  cause.^ 

1  Debate  in  the  Commons  on  bringing  in  the  American  Prohibitory  Bill. 
Parliamentary  History  of  England ;  Vol.  XVIII.,  page  998. 


204  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Those  words  were  frank  and  weighty;  but  for  the 
purposes  of  history  the  manner  in  which  they  were 
taken  is  far  more  important  and  significant  than  the 
words  themselves.  The  influence  of  Conway  upon  poli- 
tics rose  steadily  in  the  course  of  the  coming  years, 
throughout  which  his  view  of  a  soldier's  obligations 
never  wavered,  and  never  was  concealed.  The  candour 
and  fairness  of  his  character,  (we  are  told,)  drew  much 
respect  to  him  from  all  thinking  and  honest  men.^  In 
February  1782,  during  his  country's  dark  hour,  Conway 
recommended  Parliament  to  terminate  the  contest  with 
America,  —  a  course  which  he  had  always  thought  to  be 
the  duty  of  England,  and  which  many,  who  had  long 
been  deaf  to  duty,  were  beginning  to  contemplate  as 
necessary  to  her  interests.  His  proposition  was  rejected 
by  a  single  vote  on  a  division  in  which  nearly  four  hun- 
dred members  took  part ;  and  a  few  nights  afterwards 
he  induced  a  larger  and  a  wiser  House  to  condemn  any 
further  prosecution  of  the  war  by  a  majority  of  nineteen. 
Such  a  Resolution  on  such  a  subject,  —  carried  against 
all  the  efforts  and  influence  of  a  powerful  Court,  and  of 
a  Cabinet  which  to  external  appearance  was  unanimous, 
—  is  unprecedented  in  the  annals  of  our  Parliament,  and 
perhaps  in  those  of  any  national  assembly.  No  more 
sincere  and  striking  proof  could  possibly  be  given  of  the 
estimation  in  which  Conway  was  held  by  his  fellow-sen- 
ators. They  admired  him  none  the  less,  and  trusted  him 
all  the  more,  because,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  he  had 
not  shrunk  from  declaring  himself  on  as  abstruse  a  point 
of  conduct  as  a  soldier  and  a  patriot  was  ever  called 
upon  to  determine. 

The  same  respectful  and  considerate  treatment  was 
very  generally  extended  to  other  military  and  naval  men 
whose  personal  action  was  governed  by  the  same  motives. 
Some  left  the  service  outright,  and  re-entered  private  life, 
with  no  diminution  to  such  popularity,  or  social  pre- 
dominance, as  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed. ^     Some  re- 

1  Walpole's  Last  Journals ;  February  22,  1782. 

2  Such  an  one  was  Mr.  Bosville  of  Thorpe  Hall.     That  gentleman,  after 


THE   NATION  AND    THE    WAR  20 5 

raained  on  half-pay  until  Great  Britain  was  attacked  by 
European  enemies,  when   they  promptly  and   joyfully 
placed  their  swords  once  more  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Government.     Others,  again,  accepted  a  commission  in 
the  militia  ;  a  post  of  unusual  danger  and  importance  at 
a  moment  when  England,  stripped  bare  of  regular  troops, 
had  temporarily  lost  command  of  the  sea  in  consequence 
of  the  scandalous  improvidence  of  the  Board  at  the  head 
of  which  Lord  Sandwich  sate.     Whatever  course  they 
adopted,  their  fidelity  to  principle  appeared  reasonable, 
and  even  laudable,  to  their  countrymen  of  the  middle 
and  lower  classes ;  and  in  their  intercourse  with  equals 
they  brought  down  upon  themselves  and  their  families 
lio  penalties  whatsoever.     The  American  war,  from  the 
outset  to  the  finish,  was  an  open  question  in    EngHsh 
society.     A  general  or  colonel,  who  had  refused  to  take 
a  command  against  the  colonists,  lived  comfortably  and 
pleasantly   with    his  country  neighbours.     The  strong 
Tory  politicians  among  them  might  grumble  against  him 
as  fanciful  or  factious;   but  much  harder  things  would 
have  been  said  about  him  if  he  had  shot  foxes,  or  given  a 
piece  of  ground  for  the  site  of  a  Nonconformist  chapel. 
To  the  general  pubUc  of  our  own   day,  —  as  indeed 
had  always  been  the  case  with  every  well-read  English- 
man,—  the  name  of  Lord  Chatham  stands  for  patriot- 
serving  a  campaign  with  Howe,  had  quitted  the  army  because  he  would  ni)t 
act  any  longer  against  American  Independence.      Season  after  season  he 
kept  open  house  in  town  for  Fox,  and  Grey,  and  Erskine,  and  Sheridan; 
nor  for  them  only;    for  one  of  his  constant  guests  was  Lord  Rawdon,  than 
whom  the  Americans  had  no  more  stern  and  dreaded  adversary  in  arms  all 
the  while  that  the  war  had  lasted.     Until  he  grew  old,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
daily  trouble  of  entertaining  at  home,  Bosville's  board  was  spread  at  the 
Piazza  Coffeehouse  ;    where,  when  five  o'clock   came,  two  dozen  nun  of 
fashion  frequently  sate  down  to  dine  well,  even  though  only  half  a  dozen 
had  been  expected.     Whether  the  company  was  small  or    large,  the  host 
was  king  of  it,  or  rather  despot  ;  and  a  despot  of  the  kind  which  London 
neededthen,  and  needs  still.      I'or  dinner  was  served  when  the  hour  struck; 
and  any  one  who  came  late  knew  that  the  only  thing  left  for   him  was  to 
g(j  away,  and  dine  elsewhere.     The  custom  of  proposing  toasts  and  senti- 
ments after  the  cloth  was  drawn,  —  destructive  to  conversation,  and  most 
depressing  to  the  convivial  happiness  of  the  shy  and  the   inarticulate, — 
was  abolished   at   P.osville's  table.     See   the   Life  of  Ueneral  Sir  Kobeit 
Wilson  ;   Volume  I.,  chapter  ii. 


206  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

ism.  For  he  raised  England,  in  a  very  few  years,  from 
distress  and  discredit  to  a  brilliant  and  unquestioned 
pre-eminence ;  he  made  our  Empire  ;  and  he  expressed 
the  national  sentiment,  which  was  ever  present  with 
him,  in  unusually  apt  and  glowing  language.  Chatham 
gave  his  sons  to  his  country.  Great  as  were  the  pains 
which  he  bestowed  upon  the  training  of  the  second 
brother  as  an  orator  and  a  ruler,  it  was  with  equal  ardour 
that  he  incited  and  encouraged  the  mihtary  studies  of 
his  eldest  boy.  Lord  Pitt  was  sent  into  the  army  at 
fifteen.  The  father,  who  never  was  entirely  happy 
unless  he  had  all  his  family  about  him,  felt  the  separa- 
tion keenly ;  ^  and  he  was  actuated  by  a  sole  view  to 
the  young  man's  usefulness  in  that  profession  which  he 
regarded  as  not  less  honourable,  and  hardly  less  im- 
portant, than  the  calling  of  a  statesman.  "  My  son's 
ambition,"  (so  Lord  Chatham  informed  the  Governor 
of  Canada  in  his  stately  manner,)  is  to  become  a  real 
officer ;  and  I  trust  he  already  affixes  to  the  appellation 
all  the  ideas  that  go  to  constitute  a  true  title  to  the 
name."  General  Carleton  learned  with  infinite  satisfac- 
tion that  the  ex-minister,  —  who  possessed  so  extensive 
and  accurate  a  knowledge  of  the  higher  ranks  on  the 
British  army-list,  wished  his  son  to  serve  an  appren- 
ticeship on  Carleton's  staff,  and  had  purchased  him  a 
pair  of  colours  in  the  regiment  of  which  Carleton  was 
the  Colonel. 

The  letter  from  which  that  extract  is  taken  was  dated 
in  October  1773.  In  February  1776  Lady  Chatham 
wrote  to  thank  the  Governor  warmly,  in  her  husband's 
name,  for  the  favour  and  attention  which  Lord  Pitt  had 
received  from  his  chief,  in  garrison  and  in  the  field. 
"Feeling  all  this,  Sir,"  (so  she  proceeded,)  "as  Lord 
Chatham  does,  you  will  tell  yourself  with  what  concern 
he  communicates  to  you  a  step  that,  from  his  fixed  opin- 

1  "The  time  draws  nigh  for  our  dear  Pitt  joining  his  regiment  at  Que- 
bec. What  pain  to  part  with  him !  And  what  satisfaction  to  see  him  go 
in  so  manly  a  manner,  just  in  the  age  of  pleasures !  "  Lord  Chatham  to 
Lady  Stanhope  ;   March  23,  1774. 


THE   NATION  AND    THE    WAR  20/ 

ion  with  regard  to  the  continuance  of  the  unhappy  war 
with  our  fellow-subjects  of  America,  he  has  found  it 
necessary  to  take.  It  is  that  of  withdrawing  his  son 
from  such  a  service."  Two  years  afterwards,  when  the 
French  war  broke  out,  the  family,  (and  who  could  blame 
them })  discovered  a  bright  side  to  that  great  public 
calamity  in  the  reflection  that  a  son  and  brother  could 
now  return  to  the  profession  of  arms  with  an  easy  con- 
science.^ Lord  Pitt  went  back  to  the  Service,  and  was 
appointed  aide-de-camp  to  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
GilDraltar,  He  had  not  yet  left  England  when  Lord 
Chatham  was  struck  down  by  death ;  but  he  sailed 
before  the  funeral,  and  handed  over  the  post  of  chief 
mourner  to  his  brother  William.  The  House  of  Com- 
mons heard,  with  deep  emotion,  the  noble  words  in 
which  the  dying  man  was  said  to  have  bidden  his  son 
honour  a  father's  memory  by  responding  on  the  instant 
to  his  country's  call.^  Lord  Pitt  was  rewarded  for  his 
filial  behaviour  by  the  privilege  of  taking  his  share  in 
that  immortal  defence  of  our  Mediterranean  citadel 
which  did  so  much  to  restore  the  imperilled  supremacy, 
and  to  salve  the  wounded  pride,  of  England. 

The  Earl  of  Effingham  was  a  regimental  officer,  in 
the  spring  of  life,^  and  passionately  attached  to  his  voca- 
tion. At  a  moment  when  there  was  no  fighting  to  be 
witnessed  west  of  the  Carpathians,  he  had  joined  the 
Russian  army  as  a  volunteer,  and  had  gone  through  a 
campaign  against  the  Turks*  with  a  name  for  conspicu- 

1  Letter  from  the  younger  William  Pitt  to  the  Countess  of  Chatham  ; 
March  19,  1778. 

■■^Speech  of  Lord  Nugent;  May  13,  17 78.  Parliamentary  History; 
VoL  XL\.,  page  1227. 

8  In  the  Correspondence  of  the  Marquis  of  Cornwallis,  chapter  i.,  Effing- 
ham is  styled  a  Lieutenant  General  ;  but,  according  to  Collins's  Peerage. 
he  was  not  thirty  years  old  in  1775.  A  note  to  the  I'arluimentary  History 
describes  him  as  a  captain  ;  and  that  statement  is  home  out  by  the  regi- 
mental lists  preserved  in  the  War  Oiike.  It  was  his  father,  the  second 
Karl,  who  was  a  Lieutenant  (jeneral. 

*  Lord  Effmgham's  behaviour  was  specially  marked  in  1770,  when 
almost  the  whole  u{  the  Turkish  fleet  was  burned  in  a  bay  on  the  coast  of 
Anatolia.     It  was  the  Sinope  of  that  war. 


208  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

ous  enterprise  and  valour.  He  did  not  belong  to  the 
class  of  people  who  are  prone  to  self-questioning,  and 
inclined  to  crotchets  or  fanaticisms.  A  plain,  rather 
rough,  country  squire,  he  lived  according  to  the  less 
ideal  habits  of  his  period  and  his  order.^  And  yet, 
when  his  regiment  was  told  off  for  America,  he  threw 
up  his  commission,  and,  though  far  from  a  rich  man, 
renounced  the  prospect  of  sure  and  quick  advancement. 
In  May  1775  he  made  his  explanation  in  Parliament. 
His  highest  ambition,  (so  he  told  the  House  of  Lords,) 
ever  since  he  had  any  ambition  at  all,  was  to  serve  his 
country  in  a  military  capacity.  If  there  was  on  earth 
an  event  which  he  dreaded,  it  was  to  see  that  country 
so  situated  as  to  make  his  profession  incompatible  with 
his  obligations  as  a  citizen ;  and  such  an  event  had  now 
arrived.  "When  the  duties,"  he  said,  "of  a  soldier 
and  a  citizen  become  inconsistent,  I  shall  always  think 
myself  obliged  to  sink  the  character  of  the  soldier  in 
that  of  the  citizen,  till  such  time  as  those  duties  shall 
again,  by  the  malice  of  our  nW  enemies,  become  united." 
Effingham  sate  down  as  soon  as  he  had  made  this  re- 
markable confession  ;  but  none  of  his  brother  peers,  who 
were  present,  took  exception  to  his  speech ;  nor  was  he 
ever  subsequently  taunted  with  it  in  debate,  although  he 
was  a  frequent,  a  fiery,  and  a  most  provocative  assailant 
of  the  Government.  Outside  Parliament,  not  in  any 
way  by  his  own  seeking,  he  at  once  became  celebrated, 
and  vastly  popular.  Mason,  the  poet,  inquired  if  ever 
there  was  anything,  ancient  or  modern,  either  in  senti- 
ment or  language,  better  than  Lord  Effingham's  speech.^ 
Public  thanks  were  voted  to  him  by  the  Corporations  of 
London  and  Dublin.  The  Free  Citizens  of  the  Irish 
metropolis,  many  of  them  gentlemen  of  wealth  and 
standing,  and  Protestants  all,  dined  together  and  drank 

1  His  lady  hunted,  and  rode  over  five-barred  gates.  He  himself  liked 
his  wine  ;  and  a  summer-house  on  the  estate  had  been  christened  Boston 
Castle, —  not  as  a  tribute  to  the  American  cause,  but  because  no  tea  was 
ever  drunk  there. 

2  Mason  to  Walpole  ;   June  17,  1775. 


THE  NATION  AND    THE    WAR  209 

toasts  to  the  Glorious  and  Immortal  memory  of  the 
great  King  William  ;  to  Lord  Chatham ;  to  the  brave 
General  Carleton,  the  Man  of  too  much  Humanity  for 
the  purpose  of  a  Cruel  and  Cowardly  Minister ;  and  to 
the  Earl  of  Effingham,  who  did  not  forget  the  Citizen 
in  the  Soldier. 

Lord  Frederic  Cavendish,  (a  name  which  is  the  syn- 
onym of  loyalty,)  had  been  a  soldier  from  his  youth 
onwards.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  he 
had  made  a  compact  with  three  other  promising  officers, 
—  Wolfe,  Monckton,  and  Keppel,  —  not  to  marry  until 
France  was  defeated,  and  finally  brought  to  terms.^  He 
was  an  aide-de-camp  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  in 
Germany,  and  during  several  campaigns  he  rode  at  the 
head  of  a  brigade  of  infantry  in  the  army  of  Prince 
Ferdinand  of  Brunswick.  Already  a  Lieutenant  General 
of  repute  when  the  American  disturbances  broke  out, 
he  still,  at  the  age  of  five-and-forty,  had  the  best  of  his 
career  before  him  ;  but  he  allowed  it  to  be  known  that 
he  would  not  apply  for  a  command  against  the  colonists. 
Lord  Frederic,  however,  continued  in  his  profession  ; 
and  in  subsequent  years  he  was  made  a  full  General 
by  the  Whigs,  and  a  Field-Marshal  by  the  Tories. 
Before  it  was  ascertained  that  he  declined  to  take  part 
in  the  war,  something  disagreeable  was  written  about 
him  by  a  Mr.  Falconer  of  Chester,  who  cannot  be 
ranked  as  a  very  noteworthy  critic.  "  The  times  assist 
the  Americans.  They  are  united  by  our  divisions.  Lord 
Frederic  Cavendish  is  going  to  this  service.  If  he  acts 
consistently,  he  should  turn  to  their  side  ;  for  that  family 
has  been  the  best  friends  to  Faction  of  every  kind,  and 
the  most  furious  enemies  to  civil  order."  ^     Burke,  on 

^  This  account  of  Lord  Frederic  Cavendish  is  largely  taken  from  the 
Dictionary  of  National  Biography.  The  article  allotted  to  Lord  Frederic 
in  that  work  recounts  an  anecdote  about  him  and  the  Due  d'Aiguillon, 
which  very  pleasantly  recalls  the  chivalrous  relations  existing,  in  time  of 
war,  between  the  nobles  and  gentlemen  of  I'rance  and  of  Lngland. 

''■  Letter  by  Mr.  Thomas  Falconer,  among  the  family  jiajjers  of  James 
Round,  Esf).,  M.P. :  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission,  Fourteenth 
Report;  Appendix,  Part  L\. 

VOL.     HI.  p 


2IO  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  Other  hand,  described  the  Cavendishes  as  men  who 
were  among  the  ornaments  of  the  country  in  peace,  and 
to  whom  the  King  owed  some  of  the  greatest  glories 
of  his  own,  and  his  predecessor's  reign,  "  in  all  the 
various  services  of  the  late  French  war."  Great  integ- 
rity ;  great  tenderness  and  sensibility  of  heart,  with 
friendships  few  but  unalterable  ;  perfect  disinterested- 
ness ;  the  ancient  English  reserve  and  simplicity  of 
manner, — those,  according  to  Edmund  Burke,  were 
the  marks  of  a  true  Cavendish. ^  Such  was  the  opinion 
held  about  the  Devonshire  family  by  one  who  assuredly 
knew  them  more  intimately  than  ever  did  Mr.  Falconer ; 
and  the  one  judgement  may  be  weighed  against  the  other. 
Public  attention  had  recently  been  strongly  and  favour- 
ably drawn  to  a  man  who  was  the  forerunner  of  a  class 
which,  from  that  time  to  ours,  has  played  an  unostenta- 
tious and  unrecompensed,  but  a  most  commanding,  part 
in  the  history  of  moral  and  social  progress.  Effingham 
and  Chatham,  Conway  and  Cavendish,  were  peers  and 
members  of  Parliament ;  but  Granville  Sharp,  though 
not  himself  a  senator,  had  the  originality,  the  native 
strength,  and  the  indefatigable  enthusiasm  of  one  whose 
behests,  in  the  long  run,  senators  are  irresistibly  com- 
pelled to  obey.  He  had  recently  been  invited  to  enter 
Holy  Orders  with  the  promise  of  a  valuable  living  ;  but 
he  put  aside  the  offer  on  the  ground  that  he  could  not 
satisfy  himself  concerning  his  qualifications  for  the 
function  of  a  spiritual  teacher. ^  Granville  Sharp  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Bible  Society ;  he  learned 
Hebrew  in  hopes  of  converting  a  Jew,  and  Greek  in 
order  to  refute  a  Socinian ;  and  his  criticisms  upon  the 
sacred  texts  were  recommended  to  the  attention  of  theo- 
logical students  by  a  Bishop.  If  he  was  not  fit  to  be  a 
clergyman,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  the  Church  of  England 

1  Letter  drafted  by  Burke  in  1771.  Burke's  Character  of  Lord  John 
Cavendish. 

'  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Granville  Wheler,  Esq. :  Memoirs  of  Granville 
Sharp,  Esq.,  by  Prince  Hoare  ;  Part  L,  chapter  i.  The  singular  address 
which  the  envelope  bore  is  explained  in  a  note  at  the  bottom  of  the  page. 


THE   NATION  AND    THE    WAR  211 

could  have  been  manned.  Nevertheless  when  Granville 
Sharp  advanced,  as  an  additional  reason  for  declining 
to  take  orders,  his  belief  that  he  could  serve  the  cause 
of  religion  more  effectually  as  a  layman,  there  was 
much  good  sense  in  his  decision.  He  was  already 
deeply  committed  to  a  laborious,  a  rude,  and  a  hazard- 
ous undertaking  which,  though  it  was  inspired  by 
Christianity,  could  only  be  forced  to  a  successful  con- 
clusion by  a  free  use  of  carnal  weapons.  Between  1765 
and  1772  he  carried  on  a  seven  years'  war  of  his  own 
for  the  establishment  and  vindication  of  the  doctrine 
that  a  slave  is  liberated  by  the  act  of  setting  his  foot 
upon  English  ground.  He  had  Lord  Mansfield  against 
him ;  until,  by  his  undaunted  pertinacity,  he  brought  to 
his  own  opinion  jury  after  jury,  and  at  length  the  Bench 
itself.  London  then,  and  especially  the  lower  districts 
on  the  Thames  river,  can  hardly  be  said,  in  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word,  to  have  been  policed  at  all ;  and 
Granville  Sharp  stood  in  constant  peril  from  the  ruffians 
who  were  employed  to  re-capture  runaways,  or  to  kidnap 
negroes  and  negresses  at  the  instigation  of  people  who 
had  not  a  tittle  of  claim  to  the  ownership  of  their 
victims.  His  small  patrimony  was  soon  eaten  up  by 
law-costs,  and  by  the  expense  of  harbouring,  clothing, 
and  feeding  the  poor  wretches  whom  he  endeavoured  to 
protect ;  but  he  contrived  to  support  existence  on  his 
salary  as  a  clerk  in  the  Ordnance  Department. 

That  slender  resource  failed  him  of  a  sudden.  On 
the  twenty-eighth  of  July,  1775,  there  occurs  the  follow- 
ing clumsily  worded,  though  not  ungrammatical,  entry 
in  Granville  Sharp's  diary :  "  Board  at  Westminster. 
Account  in  Gazette  of  the  Battle  at  Charlestown,  near 
Boston,  and  letters  with  large  demands  for  ordnance 
stores,  being  received,  which  were  ordered  to  be  got 
with  all  expedition,  I  thought  it  right  to  declare  my 
objectfons  to  the  being  any  way  concerned  in  that  un- 
natural business."  The  chiefs  of  the  department,  both 
military  and  civil,  behaved  in  a  manner  that  did  them 
honour;  and  their  treatment  of  him,  (as  his  biographer 


212  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

remarks,)  was  a  specimen  of  the  respectful  kindness 
which  the  probity  of  Mr.  Sharp's  character  attracted 
even  from  those  who  differed  from  him  in  opinion.^ 
That  difference  was  not  very  deeply  marked  in  the  case 
of  the  most  conspicuous  among  Mr.  Sharp's  official 
superiors.  Sir  Jeffrey  Amherst,  who  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Ordnance,  must  have  felt  it  a  doubtful  point 
whether  he  himself  was  justified  in  shipping  gunpowder 
to  America,  when  he  could  not  find  it  with  his  con- 
science to  go  thither  for  the  purpose  of  firing  it  off 
against  the  colonists.  The  Commissioners  of  Ordnance 
declined  to  accept  Mr.  Sharp's  resignation.  They  gave 
him  continuous  leave  of  absence  for  nearly  two  years, 
by  instalments  of  two  months,  and  three  months,  and  six 
months,  at  a  time ;  and  they  would  not  accede  to  his 
urgent  request  that  his  salary  should  meanwhile  be  appor- 
tioned to  the  payment  of  the  substitutes  who  did  his 
work,  so  that  the  office  might  incur  no  additional  expense 
upon  his  account.  But  in  the  end  he  had  his  own  way,  as 
sooner  or  later  he  always  had  his  way  about  everything. 
In  1777  his  place  was  declared  vacant;  and  at  an  age 
well  past  forty  he  was  thrown  penniless  on  a  world 
where  people,  even  less  unworldly  than  Granville  Sharp, 
find  it  difficult  to  make  an  income  by  new  and  untried 
methods  after  once  they  have  turned  the  corner  of  life. 
By  the  year  1775  something  had  been  heard  of  a  man 
who,  in  the  course  of  a  very  long  and  honoured  career, 
did  as  much  in  defence  of  our  political  freedom  as  Gran- 
ville Sharp  accomplished  for  the  cause  of  humanity. 
John  Cartwright,  the  younger  son  of  a  Nottinghamshire 
squire,  entered  the  Royal  Navy  in  1758  at  a  late  age  for 
a  midshipman.  He  soon  made  up  for  lost  time,  and 
attracted  such  notice  by  activity  and  intelligence,  joined 
to  a  singularly  amiable  and  chivalrous  character,  that 
Lord  Howe  took  him  on  to  his  ship,  the  Magnanime, 
which  then  was  reputed  the  best  school  for  a  rising 
officer.  Cartwright  became  a  prime  favourite  with  his 
captain,  —  if  such  a  word  can  fairly  be  applied  in  the 

1  Prince  Hoare's  JMemoirs  of  Granville  Sharp  ;  Part  I.,  chapter  vi. 


THE  NATION  AND    THE    WAR  21 3 

case  of  a  chief  the  degree  of  whose  favour  was  invari- 
ably determined  by  merit.  Howe,  who  knew  every  man 
in  his  crew  and  every  corner  of  his  vessel,  contrived 
special  arrangements  to  ensure  that  the  young  fellow 
should  live  with  congenial  comrades,  and  that  he  should 
enjoy  all  possible  facilities,  which  the  space  and  the 
routine  of  a  man-of-war  would  permit,  for  learning  the 
theory  of  his  profession. ^  Cartwright,  (as  was  likely  to 
happen  with  Pitt  for  war  minister,  and  Anson  for  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty,)  soon  had  a  trial  of  that  profes- 
sion in  its  most  practical  and  exciting  shape.  At  the 
battle  in  Quiberon  Bay  he  had  the  care  of  four  guns  on 
the  lower  deck  ;  and,  out  of  his  twenty-six  men,  thirteen 
were  swept  down  by  one  discharge.  Lord  Howe  had 
the  adversary's  flag-ship,  and  two  of  her  consorts,  upon 
him  at  one  and  the  same  moment ;  and  John  Cartwright 
informed  his  friends  at  home  that,  more  than  once  in 
the  course  of  the  engagement,  he  expected  little  less 
than  to  be  diving  for  French  cockles.  When  Howe  was 
selected  by  Hawke  to  lead  an  attack  on  those  ships  of 
the  enemy  which  had  run  for  safety  into  the  Vilaine 
river,  Cartwright  was  one  of  the  three  officers  who  accom- 
panied his  Lordship  in  the  boats.  The  Magnanime  was 
kept  at  sea  for  the  best  part  of  two  busy  years,  until  the 
crew  had  to  be  at  the  pumps  during  the  whole  of  every 
watch.  At  length  Howe  surrendered  the  command,  and 
was  succeeded  by  a  very  different  kind  of  officer  ;2  and 

1  Until  the  rules  of  spotless  cleanliness  and  careful  stowage,  which  were 
initialed  by  Lord  St.  Vincent  and  perfected  by  Lord  Nelson,  had  been  es- 
tablished throughout  the  British  navy,  a  seventy-four  gun  ship,  with  her 
six  hundred  men  between  decks,  was  neither  an  abode  of  comfort,  nor  the 
place  for  quiet  and  uninterrupted  studies.  Dr .  Johnson,  whose  standard 
of  tidiness  was  not  exacting,  often  quoted  his  stay  on  board  a  ship  of  war 
in  Plymouth  Sound  as  an  experience  which  reconciled  him  to  nny,  and 
all,  the  drawbacks  incidental  to  life  on  shore.  "  When  you  look  tlown," 
he  said,  "  from  the  quarter-deck  tt)  the  space  below,  you  see  the  utmost 
extremity  of  human  misery  ;    such  crowding,  sucli  filth,  such  stench." 

2  It  would  be  more  profitable,  (so  Cartwriglit  declared,)  to  be  taken 
prisoner  for  a  few  months,  and  to  have  the  advantage  of  learning  to  fence 
and  talk  French,  than  to  serve  under  a  captain  who  lingered  aliout  wdur- 
ever  he  could  get  fresh  meat  and  syllabubs,  antl  who  missed  o])portunities 
for  a  fight  "  the  loss  of  which  would  make  a  parson  swear." 


214  THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  single  thought  of  the  young  lieutenant  was  hence- 
forward to  attain  such  a  proficiency  in  seamanship  as 
would  render  him  worthy  of  his  luck  if  ever  the  day 
came  for  him  to  sail  with  Howe  once  more.^ 

That  day  arrived  at  last ;  and  a  sad  day  it  was  for  John 
Cartwright.  In  February  1776  Lord  Howe  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  American  station  ;  and  he  forthwith  invited 
Cartwright  to  call  at  his  house  in  Grafton  Street,  and 
earnestly  pressed  him  to  embark  on  board  the  flag-ship.^ 
Cartwright,  too  deeply  moved  to  argue  with  a  patron 
whom  he  almost  worshipped,  intimated  that  he  was  un- 
able to  accept  the  offer,  and  placed  in  the  Admiral's 
hands  a  letter  which  explained  the  reason  of  his  decision; 
and  Lord  Howe  in  reply  acknowledged,  mournfully 
enough,  that  opinions  in  politics,  on  points  of  such 
national  moment  as  the  differences  subsisting  between 
England  and  America,  should  be  treated  like  opinions 
in  religion,  wherein  everyone  was  at  liberty  to  regulate 
his  conduct  by  those  ideas  which  he  had  adopted  upon 
due  reflection  and  enquiry.^  Cartwright  continued  to 
reside  in  his  native  county,  respected  and  loved  by  young 
and  old.  He  was  known  in  the  hunting-field  for  a  fine 
horseman,  who  rode  with  the  courage  of  a  sailor  ;  and  he 
passed  in  the  Militia  for  a  most  just  and  kind,  but  a  very 
strict,  officer,  who  made  his  battalion,  which  had  been 
much  neglected,  into  an  example  for  discipline  and  or- 
ganisation. His  value  was  recognised,  and  his  friendship 
sought,  by  the  General  in  command  of  the  district,  — 
the  Lord  Percy  who  helped  to  win  the  day  at  Fort 
Washington,  and  who  saved  as  much  of  it  as  could  be 
saved  at  Lexington.  About  a  twelvemonth  after  he  had 
refused  to  serve  against  the  colonists.  Major  Cartwright 

1  Life  and  Correspondenct  of  Major  Carhvright :  London,  1826;  Vol. 
I.,  pages  8  to  29. 

''  Cartwright  was  well  aware  of  the  chance  which  he  was  losing.  Lord 
Howe,  (so  he  told  his  friends,)  now  commanded  more  ships  than  had  ever 
fallen  to  the  lot  of  one  man  since  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  so 
that  it  would  be  *'  the  fairest  field  for  rapid  promotion  that  could  possibly 
be  imagined." 

*  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Major  Cartwright :  Vol.  L,  pages  72  to  81. 


THE  NATION  AND    THE  WAR 


215 


received  the  freedom  of  the  town  of  Nottingham ;  a  sig- 
nificant indication  of  the  views  prevailing  in  a  community 
which  had  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Royal  Army 
in  America  for  a  parliamentary  representative.' 

It  has  happened  again  and  again  that,  when  a  nation 
is  engaged  in  serious  hostilities,  the  partisans  of  peace 
have  been  exposed  to  humiliating,  and  sometimes  very 
unmerciful,  treatment  from  outbreaks  of  popular  vio- 
lence. But  opponents  of  the  American  war  had  in  this 
respect  very  little  to  complain  about,  if  we  may  judge 
by  the  noise  made  over  some  very  mild  instances  of  per- 
secution which  were  loudly  advertised,  and  vociferously 
rebuked,  by  the  chorus  of  Whig  journalists.  After  the 
battle  of  Long  Island,  (so  their  story  went,)  preparations 
had  been  made  to  illuminate  Manchester  whenever  the 
tidings  arrived  that  New  York  was  taken.  One  of  the 
citizens  put  out  a  notice  that  he,  for  his  part,  had  no 
intention  of  joining  in  the  demonstration  ;  and  that,  if 
his  windows  were  broken,  informations  would  be  lodged 
against  the  offenders.  Thereupon  a  certain  Reverend 
Doctor  was  said  to  have  transmitted  a  copy  of  the  notice 
to  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  State,  with  the  expectation 
that  "  the  writer  would  be  immured  in  Newgate,  and  that 
he  himself  would  be  complimented  with  the  first  vacant 
Bishopric  ;  "  neither  of  which  consequences,  so  far  as 
history  records,  came  to  pass.  Again,  it  was  alleged  by 
the  Opposition  newspapers  that  the  Jacobites  in  the  town 
of  Derby,  who  toasted  the  Stuarts  kneeling,  had  cele- 
brated the  successes  of  the  Royal  Army  in  America 
with  a  banquet  where  they  drank  confusion  to  the  Whig 

^  Among  the  officers  who  objected  to  serve  in  America  some,  as  may 
well  hie  conceived,  failed  to  express  their  disinclination  in  terms  which  sat- 
isfied the  taste  of  a  military  superior.  "  For  the  safety  of  the  Service  I 
must  recommend  that  Major  Norris,  of  the  27th  Regiment,  may  have  leave 
to  sell.  He  came  to  me,  and  found  fault  with  this  most  just  and  necessary 
war  his  Majesty  is  obliged  to  make  against  his  rebellious  subjects.  When 
I  would  have  interrupted  him,  he  thundered  out  a  hundred  CJrcek  lines 
from  Homer.  II--  then  talked  to  me  Dut  of  Plutarch's  Lives.  In  brief, 
my  Lord,  he  convinced  me  that  he  will  be  better  out  of  the  King's  service 
than  in  it."     General  Irwin  to  Earl  Harcourt,  September  1,  1775. 


2l6  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

corporation ;  and  the  ministerialists  of  Taunton  were 
accused  of  having  taken  a  liberty  with  the  Parish  Church 
by  ringing  the  bells  in  honour  of  Howe's  victory  on  the 
Brandywine.  When  such  trumpery  occurrences  were 
minutely  narrated,  and  solemnly  adduced  against  the 
Tories  as  proofs  of  insolence  and  outrage,  their  political 
adversaries  must  have  been  very  hard  put  to  it  in  order 
to  find  a  real  grievance ;  and  it  must  have  been  seldom 
indeed  that  any  friend  of  America,  in  any  city  of  Eng- 
land, was  harshly  or  disrespectfully  used  by  those  among 
his  neighbours  who  belonged  to  the  war  party. 

The  story  of  a  disturbance,  which  took  place  on  the 
reception  of  the  news  of  Lexington,  rather  tends  to 
suggest  that  the  idler  and  less  responsible  section  of  our 
population  was  in  sympathy  with  the  colonists.  On  an 
evening  in  August  1775,  a  party  of  scapegraces  smashed 
the  lamps  at  Vauxhall ;  pulled  the  door  of  the  Rotunda 
off  its  hinges ;  stormed  the  Throne  of  Orpheus,  and 
ejected  the  musicians  who  occupied  it;  and  chased  out 
of  the  gardens  the  whole  staff  of  the  establishment,  to- 
gether with  all  the  constables,  calling  out  that  they 
themselves  were  the  Provincials  beating  the  Regulars. 
That,  for  some  years  to  come,  was  the  only  riot  in  which 
civilians  were  concerned.  On  other  occasions  the  most 
effective  violators  of  public  order  appear  to  have  been 
subalterns  in  the  army.  At  Lincoln  Lieutenant  Mac- 
intosh, of  the  Sixty-ninth  Regiment,  entered  a  print- 
shop,  took  from  the  window  a  picture  of  General 
Putnam,  tore  it  in  pieces,  and  then  paid  for  it  across  the 
counter.  Soon  afterwards  Macintosh  came  back  again, 
destroyed  another  picture  without  giving  compensation, 
and  swore  that  next  time  he  would  run  his  sword  through 
the  panes  of  the  shopfront.  On  the  Monday  following 
some  other  officers,  (mistaking  for  an  enemy  one  who, 
in  effect,  if  not  in  intention,  was  among  England's  most 
serviceable  alHes,)  cut  the  head  out  of  an  engraving  of 
General  Charles  Lee,  and  threatened  that,  if  the  trades- 
man did  not  mend  his  ways,  the  soldiers  should  be 
ordered  to  pull  down  his  house. 


THE  NATION  AND    THE   WAR  217 

The  proceeding  was  a  boyish  ebullition  of  military 
loyalty,  pardonable  in  the  eyes  of  any  fair  man  who 
himself  had  worn  a  uniform  when  he  was  one-and- 
twenty ;  but  Whig  scribes,  who  saw  deep  into  every  mile- 
stone on  the  road  from  Edinburgh  to  London,  cited  it 
as  a  proof  that  a  Scotchman  might  insult  English  citi- 
zens with  impunity.  If  officers,  (it  was  said,)  had  be- 
haved with  such  turbulence  and  want  of  breeding  in  the 
good  old  King's  reign,  they  would  have  been  broke,  or, 
at  the  least,  would  have  received  a  public  reprimand  at 
the  head  of  the  regiment ;  but  now,  with  Lord  Bute  be- 
hind the  Throne,  no  colonel  in  the  army  would  dare  to 
censure  a  lieutenant  whose  name  showed  that  he  came 
from  Inverness.  These  enormities,  (as  the  Opposition 
journalist  styled  them,)  afforded  so  many  additional  in- 
dications that  the  "only  path  to  preferment  was  by 
trampling  upon  law,  and  turning  into  ridicule  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  people."  It  undoubtedly  was  the 
right  and  privilege  of  a  shopkeeper  to  exhibit  the  por- 
traits of  American  generals  as  popular  heroes ;  but  it 
was  a  right  which  he  would  have  been  very  cautious 
indeed  of  exercising  if  any  large  proportion  of  his  neigh- 
bours had  been  ardent  supporters  of  the  war.  That 
such,  however,  was  the  case  either  in  the  town  of  Lin- 
coln, or  generally  throughout  England,  is  disproved  by 
facts  and  considerations  the  significance  of  which  it  is 
not  easy  to  deny. 

In  time  of  war  a  political  agitation,  — especially  one 
that  is  aimed  against  institutions  and  abuses  on  the  con- 
tinuance of  which  the  supremacy  of  the  party  in  power 
depends, — is  almost  certainly  doomed  to  languish  and 
to  fail ;  and  that  such  an  agitation  should  be  too  insig- 
nificant for  serious  notice  may  well  be  the  best  thing 
which  could  hai)pen  for  its  promoters.  During  the  great 
war  with  I-^ance,  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  bolder  advocates  of  parliamentary  reform 
were  sometimes  rabbled  by  mobs,  and  sometimes  pun- 
ished in  the  law-courts  with  c.\emi)l:iry  severity;  whereas 
twenty  years  previously,  all    the  while  that  our  armies 


2l8  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

were  fighting  Washington  in  America,  the  art  of  Con- 
stitutional agitation  at  home  was  brought  to  a  perfec- 
tion, and  pursued  with  an  amount  of  success,  surpassing 
anything  which  had  ever  been  known  before.  A  com- 
bined movement,  —  directed  towards  the  improvement 
of  our  electoral  system,  and  the  extinction  of  those  mani- 
fold facilities  for  corruption  by  which  the  Court  kept  in 
awe  the  Cabinet,  and  the  Cabinet  controlled  the  Parlia- 
ment, —  ran  its  course  with  growing  velocity ;  and  neither 
the  Government  at  Whitehall,  nor  its  adherents  through- 
out the  country,  endeavoured  to  repress  that  movement 
either  by  penal  legislation  or  by  lawless  violence.  There 
were  open  meetings  of  Freeholders  in  the  shires,  and  of 
Freemen  in  the  cities ;  County  Associations  for  the  re- 
dress of  grievances;  Committees  of  Correspondence 
which  maintained  uniform  and  concerted  action  among 
reformers  all  through  the  kingdom;  and  public  dinners 
with  toasts  so  bravely  worded  as  to  ring  like  the  chal- 
lenge of  a  trumpet,  and  so  numerous,  when  drunk  in 
bumpers,  as  effectually  to  drown  every  vestige  of  caution 
and  timidity.  That  such  methods,  without  entailing  any 
disagreeable  consequences  on  those  who  employed  them, 
should  have  been  put  in  practice  against  a  Ministry 
which  was  engaged  in  the  conduct  of  an  important  war, 
is  an  indirect,  but  a  most  material,  proof  that  the  war 
itself  was  disliked  by  the  nation. 

The  direct  evidence  is  stronger  yet ;  for  at  many 
County  meetings  there  was  a  Resolution,  at  most 
banquets  a  whole  string  of  flowery  Sentiments,  and 
prominent  in  every  Petition  and  Address  an  emphatic 
paragraph,  all  of  which  denoted  friendliness  towards 
America,  and  exhaled  hearty  aspirations  for  an  imme- 
diate Peace.  At  length,  in  December  1781,  the  Livery- 
men of  London,  in  public  assembly  duly  convoked,  took 
action  which  has  been  so  forcibly  narrated  by  a  con- 
temporary historian  that  it  is  well  to  reproduce  his 
description,  italics  and  all.  "  They  besought  the  King 
to  remove  both  his  public  and  private  counsellors,  and 
used    these    stunning   and    memorable    words :    '  Your 


THE  NATION  AND    THE   WAR  219 

armies  are  captured ;  the  wonted  superiority  of  your 
navies  is  annihilated;  your  dominions  are  lost.'  "  These 
words,  (so  the  writer  proceeded,)  could  have  been  used 
to  no  other  king  :  "  for  no  king  had  lost  so  much,  with- 
out losing  all.  If  James  the  Second  lost  his  crown,  yet 
the  Crown  lost  no  dominions." ^  The  Address  from 
the  Livery  was  never  presented  ;  but  the  last  had  not 
yet  been  heard  of  it ;  for  a  week  afterwards,  in  West- 
minster Hall,  a  similar  petition  was  proposed  by  Charles 
Fox,  and  adopted  by  a  vast  concourse  of  Westminster 
electors.  The  footguards  were  held  in  readiness  for 
the  protection  of  Downing  Street  against  a  possible 
incursion  of  the  Opposition  mob,  and  not  at  all  from 
an  apprehension  lest  the  war-party  should  invade  the 
Hall,  and  attempt  to  break  the  heads  of  the  peace- 
party.  Experience  had  often  shown  that  there  was  no 
ground  for  anticipating  any  such  contingency.  Anti- 
war meetings  always  passed  off  quietly  between  1776 
and  1782  ;  although  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
our  ancestors  were  more  tolerant,  or  better-mannered, 
than  their  descendants.  The  Wilkes  riots,  and  the 
Keppel  riots,  conclusively  demonstrated  what  Lon- 
doners of  the  period  were  capable  of  doing  for  the 
promotion  of  disorder  whenever  they  had  a  mind  that 
way.  There  exists  one  tenable  theory,  and  one  only, 
to  account  for  the  tranquillity  and  security  amid  which 
those,  who  opposed  the  Government  on  the  question  of 
America,  were  able  to  carry  forward  their  political 
operations.  The  rational  explanation  is  that  the  dis- 
favour beneath  which,  from  other  causes,  the  Ministry 
had  long  and  deservedly  laboured,  instead  of  being 
diminished,  was  confirmed  and  aggravated  by  the  war. 

1  Last  Journals  ;  December  4,  1781. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

THE    TALK    OF    MEN.       CONTEMPORARY    HISTORIANS. 
THE    PAMPHLETEERS.        THE  "CALM  ADDRESS" 

An  Englishman  who  approved  the  war  was  quite 
willing  that  Englishmen  who  disliked  it  should  be  at 
full  liberty  to  express  their  opinions ;  but  he  had  no 
inclination  whatever  to  conceal  his  own.  The  printed 
memoirs  of  the  period  are  sprinkled  thickly  with  scraps 
of  many  conversations ;  and  brief  selections  from  the 
famihar  utterances  of  famous  men  have  been  deliber- 
ately reported  for  the  amusement  and  enlightenment 
of  future  ages.  From  these  sources  it  is  possible  to 
catch  at  least  an  echo  of  the  bluff  jolly  talk  which 
flowed  round  the  tables  of  country  houses,  while  the 
Gainsboroughs  and  Romneys,  with  their  colours  still 
fresh,  looked  down  upon  the  company  from  the  panel- 
ling of  the  walls.  The  disputants  on  either  side  met 
in  a  fair  field  and  on  equal  terms,  and  handled  the 
fiery  topics  of  the  war  as  unreservedly  as  their  grand- 
sons in  the  days  of  Peel  argued  about  the  Corn  Laws.^ 
A  gentleman  in  the  Western  Counties  complained  that 
the  Dissenters,  who  in  that  part  of  the  world  were  "  as 
thick  as  mushrooms,"  not  contented  with  the  unmolested 
enjoyment  of  their  own  mode  of  worship,  mixed  them- 
selves up  with  State  affairs,  and  presumed  to  sit  in 
judgement  on  the  American  policy  of  the  Government; 
but,  in  spite  of  his  disgust,  he  could  not  escape  from 

1  How  people  then  talked  about  America,  —  or,  (what  is  the  next  thing 
to  it,)  how,  in  the  view  of  their  contemporaries,  they  seemed  to  talk, — 
may  be  gathered  from  imaginary  conversations  written  and  published, 
generally  with  a  controversial  object,  by  authors  belonging  to  both  political 
parties.  A  sample  from  one  of  them,  with  a  touch  of  liveliness  and 
reality  about  it  which  renders  it  well  worth  reading,  is  given  in  the 
Second  Appendix  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 

220 


THE    TALK   OF  MEN  221 

hearing  all  that  the  Dissenters  had  to  say.^  A  Loyalist 
refugee  from  New  England  who,  for  want  of  something 
better  to  occupy  him,  spent  much  of  his  time  in  public 
places,  described  to  a  friend  at  Boston  the  sort  of  talk 
which  went  on  around  him  in  London.  "America,"  he 
wrote,  "  furnishes  matter  for  dispute  in  coffee-houses ; 
sometimes  warm,  but  without  abuse  or  ill-nature ; 
and  there  it  ends.  It  is  unfashionable,  and  even  dis- 
reputable, to  look  askew  on  one  another  for  difference 
of  opinion  in  political  matters.  The  doctrine  of  tolera- 
tion, if  not  better  understood,  is,  thank  God,  better 
practised  here  than  in  America."  ^ 

During  the  earlier  years  of  the  American  conflict 
people  wrangled  about  colonial  politics  for  the  pleasure 
of  unburdening  their  own  souls,  and  of  hearing  vigorous 
epithets,  and  well-worn  taunts,  sounded  forth  by  their 
own  voices;  for  they  had  little  expectation  of  con- 
verting an  adversary.  Starting  from  directly  opposite 
premises,  they  entered  the  lists  armed  respectively  with 
an  entirely  different  equipment  of  facts.  Each  man 
retailed  what  he  found  in  his  favourite  newspaper ;  and 
the  newspaper  which  was  Gospel  for  the  one  seemed  a 
magazine  of  mendacity  to  the  other.  Whigs  proclaimed 
their  distrust  of  every  statement  in  the  "  London 
Gazette,"  and  their  behef  in  many  items  of  intelligence 
which  they  could  not  find  in  its  pages.  Tories  as 
roundly  asserted  that  Congress  had  bought  the  entire 
Opposition  press  through  the  agency  of  Arthur  Lee ;  — 
a  Virginian,  (so  they  described  him,)  who  had  been 
bred  a  physician,  but  had  turned  lawyer,  and  now  was 
finishing  as  a  rebel.^  Horace  Walpole,  with  the  im- 
partiality of  one  who  accepted  nothing  for  truth  but 
what  he  read  in  a  private  letter,  said  that  it  was  incredi- 
ble how  both  sides  lied  about  the  war."*     The  distance 

1  Letter  from  a  Gentleman  in  Somersetshire  to  a  Friend  in  London  ; 
October  6,  1776. 

-  Journal  and  Letters  of  the  late  Samuel  Curwen,  Edited  by  George 
Atkinson  Ward  ;    New  York,  1845. 

^  Letter  of  9th  August,  1775  ;    Round  MSS. 

*  Walpole  to  Sir  Horace  Mann  ;  August  1 1,  1776. 


222  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

from  the  scene  of  action,  and  the  uncertainty  of  com- 
munication by  sailing  vessels,  gave  unbounded  scope 
to  the  audacity  of  any  London  penman  who  seasoned, 
and  served  up,  contemporary  military  history  in  a 
form  to  suit  his  reader's  palate.  And  so  it  came  to 
pass  that,  when  they  were  debating  the  events  of  the 
current  campaign,  men  of  contrary  parties  were  seldom 
agreed  as  to  the  direction  in  which  things  were  mov- 
ing; although  everybody  admitted  that  they  moved  very 
slowly.^  Our  ancestors  were  vehement  in  assertion,  and 
not  over  choice  in  repartee  ;  but  there  was  a  point  in 
most  controversies  when  discord  and  contradiction  ceased, 
and  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  ordeal  of  the  wager. 
Fifty  guineas  even,  that  the  war  would  terminate 
before  Christmas  1779  without  America  being  inde- 
pendent of  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain ;  thirty  guineas 
to  ten  that  Sir  William  Howe  was  not  in  possession  of 
Philadelphia  by  June  1777;  twenty-five  guineas  for 
every  three  months  that  France  remained  at  peace  with 
England  from  the  first  of  March  1779  onwards;  and  a 
bet  of  fifty  guineas,  to  run  for  three  years,  that  Lord 
North  died  by  the  hand  of  justice  before  Mr.  Hancock, 
the  President  of  the  Continental  Congress  ;  —  those  are 
a  few  authentic  specimens  of  a  characteristic  national 
practice,  the  resort  to  which,  at  the  critical  moment  in 
a  dispute,  restored  the  harmony  of  many  a  social 
evening,  and  averted  the  necessity  of  a  hostile  meet- 
ing at  some  dismally  early  hour  on  the  morning  of  the 
morrow. 

Many  wars  have  ere  this  been  waged,  not  by  England 
only,  in  pursuit  of  inadequate  and  illusory  ends,  and  have 
been  carried  on  long  after  the  course  of  events  had  made 

1  "  Don't  you  begin  to  think,  Madam,  that  it  is  pleasanter  to  read 
history  than  to  live  it  ?  Battles  are  fought,  and  towns  taken,  in  every 
page  ;  but  a  campaign  takes  six  or  seven  months  to  hear,  and  achieves  no 
great  matter  at  last.  I  dare  to  say  Alexander  seemed  to  the  coffee-houses 
of  Pella  a  monstrous  while  about  conquering  the  world.  As  to  this 
American  war,  I  am  persuaded  it  will  last  till  the  end  of  the  century." 
Walpole  to  the  Countess  of  Ossory ;  Strawberry  Hill,  October  8, 
1777. 


THE    TALK   OF  MEN  223 

it  manifest  that  those  ends  were  impossible  of  attainment. 
Wars  of  that  class  are  the  despair  of  historians  belong- 
ing to  the  school  which  would  fain  account  for  every 
great  national  undertaking  by  a  theory  that  the  people, 
—  instinctively,  even  if  ignorantly  and  unconsciously, — 
are  impelled  by  an  unerring  sense  of  the  national  inter- 
ests. Such  wars  are  commenced  in  anger,  and  after- 
wards continued  from  obstinacy,  or,  it  may  be,  from  the 
necessities  of  self-preservation  ;  and  the  actual  explosion 
generally  follows  close  upon  some  striking  and  theatri- 
cal occurrence  which  evokes  an  eruption  of  moral  in- 
dignation and  international  repugnance.  In  1793  the 
execution  of  Louis  the  Sixteenth  was  a  signal  for  the 
clash  of  arms ;  and  the  spilling  of  the  tea  in  Boston 
Harbour  had,  not  less  certainly,  been  the  exciting  cause 
of  that  protracted  struggle  which  finally  resulted  in  the 
independence  of  America.  It  will  always  be  remem- 
bered to  the  credit  of  Pitt  and  Grenville  that,  under  the 
shock  of  the  French  Revolution,  they  laboured  gallantly, 
honestly,  and  perseveringly  to  maintain  peace  between 
France  and  England.  All  the  while  that  Burke  was 
preaching  a  crusade  against  the  wicked  Republic  with  a 
fury  of  rhetoric  which  took  the  conscience  of  our  country 
by  storm,  the  Prime  Minister,  and  the  Foreign  Minister, 
insisted  that  the  counsels  of  moderation  should  be  heard, 
and  kept  their  followers  in  hand  as  long  as  it  was  possi- 
ble to  hold  them.i  j^yj-^  throughout  our  American 
troubles,  the  rulers  of  the  British  Empire  exerted  upon 
public  opinion  an  exasperating,  and  not  a  restraining, 
influence.     Even  in  the  business  letters  which  he  ad- 

1  "No  hour  of  Pitt's  life,"  (wrote  Mr.  Green  in  his  History  of  the  Eng- 
lish People,)  "is  so  great  as  the  hour  when  he  stood,  lonely  and  passion- 
less, before  the  growth  of  national  passion,  and  refused  to  how  to  the 
gathering  cry  for  war." 

"  I  bless  God  that  we  had  the  wit  to  keep  ourselves  out  of  the  glorious 
enterprise  of  the  combined  armies,  and  that  we  were  nut  tempted  by  the 
hope  of  sharing  the  spoils  in  the  division  of  France,  nor  by  the  jinispect 
of  crushing  all  democratical  principles  all  over  the  world  at  one  blow." 
That  was  said  by  Lord  Grenville  as  late  as  November  1792  ;  two  full  years 
after  Burke  had  thrilled  England  by  his  celebrated  appeal  to  Chivalry  on 
behalf  of  Queen  Marie  Antoinette, 


224  ^-^^  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

dressed  to  Lord  North  the  King  could  never  write  about 
New  Englanders  with  patience.  Lord  Dartmouth,  in- 
deed, treated  the  colonists  with  sympathy,  and  evinced 
a  desire  to  ascertain  and  understand  their  own  view  of 
their  own  case ;  but  in  that  regard  he  was  almost  alone 
in  the  Cabinet.  After  the  quarrel  had  become  enven- 
omed, few  members  of  the  Government,  whose  words 
counted  for  anything,  spoke  of  Americans  in  Parliament 
with  respect,  or  even  with  common  propriety. 

The  cue  was  given,  and  the  fashion  set,  to  all  partisans 
of  the  Court  and  the  Ministry.  Their  talk,  (so  much  as 
has  reached  us,)  ran  in  a  channel  of  considerable  vio- 
lence, but  of  little  depth.  How  far  reconciliation  was 
practicable  ;  by  what  steps,  and  through  the  employment 
of  what  agents  and  intermediaries,  it  might  be  achieved  ; 
what  was  the  judgement  of  contemporary  Europe  ;  what 
were  the  schemes  and  inclinations  of  foreign  govern- 
ments, and  what  would  be  their  action  if  the  war  was 
indefinitely  prolonged ;  how  that  war  affected  the  pros- 
perity of  our  own  West  Indian  islands  ;  whether  America 
could  be  subdued  by  force ;  how  long,  if  reconquered, 
she  could  be  kept  in  subjection,  and  at  what  cost;  — 
those  were  speculations  altogether  too  abstract  and  un- 
practical to  engage  the  attention  of  Lord  North's  sup- 
porters. The  staple  of  their  conversation,  even  in  the 
case  of  men  who  posed  as  authorities  on  the  colonial 
question,  consisted  in  wholesale  and  vehement  abuse  of 
the  disaffected  colonists.  James  Boswell,  though  a  sound 
Tory,  entertained  scruples  about  the  right  of  Parliament 
to  tax  America.  Like  a  good  disciple  he  begged,  and 
again  begged.  Doctor  Johnson  to  clear  up  his  misgiv- 
ings ;  but  on  each  occasion  he  was  handled  in  such  a 
fashion  as  to  regret,  (which  was  most  unusual  with  him,) 
that  he  had  not  been  discreet  enough  to  leave  burning 
topics  alone.  Once,  however,  he  enjoyed  the  opportu- 
nity of  listening  to  the  famous  teacher  at  a  moment  when 
his  mind  had  been  attuned  to  milder  and  holier  thoughts. 
Johnson  was  maintaining,  in  opposition  to  a  handsome 
and  eloquent  Quakeress,  that  friendship  could  not  strictly 


THE    TALK   OF  MEN 


225 


be  called  a  Christian  virtue.  He  urged  that,  whereas 
the  ancient  philosophers  dwelt  only  on  the  beauty  of 
private  friendship,  Christianity  recommended  universal 
benevolence,  and  enjoined  us  to  consider  all  men  as  our 
brothers.  "  Surely,  Madam,"  he  said,  "  your  sect  must 
approve  of  this  ;  for  you  call  all  n\Q.r\  friends.''  But  that 
weather  was  too  calm  to  last.  "  From  this  pleasing  sub- 
ject," wrote  Boswell,  "he  made  a  sudden  transition.  'I 
am  wilHng,'  he  cried,  '  to  love  all  mankind  except  an 
American ; '  and  his  inflammable  corruption  bursting 
into  horrid  fire,  he  breathed  out  threatenings  and  slaugh- 
ter, calling  them  rascals,  robbers,  pirates,  and  exclaim- 
ing that  he  would  burn  and  destroy  them."  ^ 

Considering  that  he  was  a  professed  master  in  the 
science  of  ethics,  Dr.  Johnson's  estimate  of  the  Ameri- 
can character  was  not  very  judicial  or  discriminating ; 
and  still  less  could  it  be  expected  that  people,  who  had 
never  claimed  to  be  philosophers,  should  mince  their 
words  when  they  were  engaged  in  denouncing  the  iniqui- 
ties of  the  colonists.  That  mattered  little  in  a  discus- 
sion with  English  Whigs,  who  gave  as  good  as  they  got, 
and  who  were  much  more  concerned  to  speak  their  mind 
against  the  Cabinet  than  to  defend  the  Americans.  But 
there  was  a  class  of  men  whose  feelings  were  cruelly 
wounded  by  the  tone  of  conversation  which  largely  pre- 
vailed in  London  society ;  men  whom  it  is  impossible  to 
name  without  a  tribute  of  respectful  compassion.  The 
town  was  full  of  refugees  from  every  colony  in  America, 
who  had  sacrificed  all  that  they  possessed  to  their  love 
for  Britain,  and  their  veneration  for  Britain's  King. 
Their  condition,  sad  in  itself,  was  melancholy  indeed  by 
contrast  to  that  which  they  had  known  at  home.  Some 
of  them  had  been  proprietors  of  vast  districts,  with 
powers  and  prerogatives  far  exceeding  those  of  an  Eng- 
lish landowner.  Others  had  held  office  as  Lieutenant- 
Governors  of  Provinces,  Judges,  Councillors,  and 
Commissioners  of  Revenue.  Others,  again,  had  been 
Presidents  of  Colleges,  or  clergymen  in  charge  of  rich, 
^  7'//^  /.i/e  of  Samuel  Johnson,  Sept.  23,  1777  ;  April  15,  and  18,  1778. 


226  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

and  once  admiring  and  affectionate,  congregations. 
Among  the  five  occupants  of  the  Bench  in  the  superior 
Court  of  Massachusetts  all  save  one  were  Loyalists  ;  and 
three  of  them  were  driven  into  banishment.  The  politi- 
cal faith  for  which  these  gentlemen  suffered  is  finely 
summarised  in  the  epitaph  on  Chief  Justice  Oliver,  the 
president  of  their  tribunal,  which  may  be  seen  in  St. 
Philip's,  Birmingham ;  —  a  church  standing  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  city,  with  an  ample  space  about  it,  and  its 
doors  hospitably  open  to  the  passing  stranger.^  One  of 
Oliver's  colleagues  died  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  another  in 
England ;  and  at  least  five  members  of  his  family,  who 
were  living  in  Massachusetts  as  grown  men  before  the 
Revolution  broke  out,  are  buried  in  different  corners  of 
our  island.  When  General  De  Lancey  of  New  York  was 
laid  in  his  grave  a  fellow-refugee  said,  truly  enough,  that 
there  would  be  scarcely  a  village  in  England  without 
some  American  dust  in  it  by  the  time  they  were  all  at 
rest.  And  not  in  England  only ;  for,  in  the  covirse  of 
our  wars  against  the  French  Republic  and  the  French 
Empire,  many  American  Loyalists,  both  of  the  first  and 
second  generation,  breathed  their  last  on  the  field  of 
honour  in  one  or  another  of  our  country's  battles.^ 

1  The  monument  is  erected  to  the  Honourable  Peter  Oliver,  formerly 
His  Majesty's  Chief  Justice  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England  ;  and  the  inscription  runs  :  "  In  the  year  1776,  on  a  Dissolution 
of  Government,  He  left  his  Native  Country  ;  but  in  all  the  consequent 
calamities  his  Magnanimity  remained  unshaken,  and,  (though  the  source 
of  his  misfortunes,)  nothing  could  dissolve  his  Attachment  to  the  British 
Government,  nor  lessen  his  love  and  loyalty  to  his  Sovereign." 

2  "  Mr.  Flucker  died  suddenly  in  his  bed  yesterday  morning,  and  it  is 
the  forty-fifth  of  the  refugees  from  Massachusetts,  within  my  knowledge, 
that  have  died  in  England.  He  was  Secretary  of  State  for  Massachusetts." 
Curwen's  diary  ;    Feb.  17,  17S3. 

Wellington's  Quartermaster  General,  who  was  killed  at  Waterloo,  was 
a  De  Lancey  of  New  York.  Colonel  James  De  Peyster,  of  the  same  prov- 
ince, had,  as  a  youth,  distinguished  himself  on  the  British  side  during  the 
war  of  the  American  Revolution.  In  1793  he  led  an  assault  on  an  almost 
impregnable  French  position  at  Lincelles  in  West  Flanders,  and  was  shot 
dead  in  the  moment  of  victory.  Those  were  two  out  of  many  ;  for  Loyalists 
of  the  upper  class  were  a  fighting  race  throughout  all  the  colonies.  Tory 
farmers  and  shopkeepers,  and  Tory  mechanics,  in  the  Northern  and  Central 
provinces,  showed  much  less  inclination  to  take  up  arms  for  their  opinions. 


THE    TALK   OF  MEN 


227 


When  Governor  Hutchinson  of  Massachusetts  was 
superseded  in  June  1774,  many  leading  merchants,  and 
most  of  the  officials,  united  to  present  him  with  an 
Address  approving  his  political  conduct,  and  wishing 
him  a  prosperous  future.  Among  the  names  attached 
to  the  paper  was  that  of  Samuel  Curwen  of  Salem, 
Judge  of  the  Admiralty  for  the  province.  Popular 
pressure  was  brought  upon  the  subscribers  for  the  pur- 
pose of  inducing  them  to  withdraw  their  signatures, 
and  to  insert  in  the  newspapers  an  apology  for  the 
action  which  they  had  taken.  Many  yielded  ;  but 
Curwen  thought  it  best  to  go  elsewhere  in  search  of 
that  security,  and  those  personal  rights,  which,  (to  use 
his  own  words,)  by  the  laws  of  God  he  ought  to  have 
enjoyed  undisturbed  in  his  native  town.  His  wife,  not 
a  httle  to  his  surprise,  disliked  a  sea  voyage  more  than 
she  feared  the  Sons  of  Liberty ;  and,  in  his  sixtieth 
year,  he  sailed  alone  for  England.  He  solaced  his 
leisure  in  that  country  by  the  composition  of  a  journal 
which  presents,  in  subdued  but  distinct  colours,  a  very 
cheerless  picture  of  the  exile's  existence. 

The  misery  of  such  an  existence  has  been  sung  and 
spoken  in  many  languages,  by  famous  people  of  many 
nations ;  but  it  has  never  been  more  irksome  than  to 
men  of  our  own  busy  and  energetic  race.  Among 
those  men,  the  New  England  refugees  belonged  pre- 
cisely to  the  class  upon  whom  the  trials  and  discomforts 
of  banishment  pressed  the  heaviest.  In  America  they 
had  been  important  personages,  successful  already,  or 
on  a  sure  and  easy  road  to  success ;  wealthy  according 
to  the  standard  of  the  community  in  which  they  resided ; 
and  with  every  day  of  their  life  filled  and  dignified  by 
serious  occupations.  But  in  England  they  were  no- 
bodies, with  nothing  in  the  world  to  do.  It  is  true  that 
the  sights  of  London  were  there  to  be  admired,  if  only 
they  had  the  heart  to  relish  them.  They  attended 
as  spectators  at  numerous  processions  characteristic  of 
the  period  and  the  country.  They  saw  their  Majesties 
returning   from   a   Drawing-room   in   sedan-chaiis  ;    the 


228  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

King  in  very  light  cloth,  with  silver  buttons,  and  the 
Queen  in  lemon-coloured  flowered  silk  on  cream-coloured 
ground.  They  saw  the  milkmaids  and  chimney-sweeps 
keep  May-day  in  all  its  ancient  splendour,  with  many 
hundred  pounds'  worth  of  silver  plate  disposed  amid 
an  enormous  pyramid  of  foliage  and  garlands.  They 
watched  five  couple  of  young  persons  chained  together, 
walking  under  the  care  of  tip-staves  to  Bridewell.  They 
visited  the  British  Museum,  and  examined  the  Alexan- 
drine Manuscript.  Readers  of  Shakespeare,  Uke  all  of 
their  countrymen  who  read  anything,  they  made  an  ex- 
pedition to  the  Boar's  Head  tavern  in  the  City  for  the 
sake  of  Falstaff,  and  into  Hertfordshire  in  order  to 
inspect  the  great  Bed  of  Ware.^  They  heard  blind  Sir 
John  Fielding  administer  justice  at  Bow  Street.  They 
were  present  when  the  Reverend  Doctor  Dodd,  at  the 
Magdalen  Hospital,  delivered  a  discourse  which  set  the 
whole  chapel  crying,  not  much  more  than  a  twelve- 
month before  he  preached  his  own  Condemned  Sermon 
in  Newgate  gaol.  They  saw  Garrick  in  tragedy ;  and 
were  crushed,  and  buffeted,  and  almost  stifled,  for  the 
space  of  two  hours  at  the  Pit  door  of  Drury  Lane 
theatre  in  a  vain  attempt  to  see  him  in  comedy.  They 
dined  with  the  ex-Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  met 
each  other ;  and  with  the  ex- Attorney  General,  and 
met  each  other  again.  They  sought  distraction  in  the 
provinces,  and  made  a  round  of  manufacturing  towns, 
and  cathedrals,  and  feudal  castles,  and  romantic  pros- 
pects. They  explored  Blenheim,  and  Old  Sarum,  and 
Stonehenge,  and  the  inn  at  Upton  where  Tom  Jones 
found  Sophia  Western's  muff  with  the  little  paper  pinned 
to  it.  But  all  was  to  no  purpose.  After  eighteen  months 
spent  in  surveying  the  wonders  and  beauties  of  the 
mother  country  with  sad  and  weary  eyes,  Judge  Curwen 
pronounced,  as  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter,  that 
his  flight  to  England  had  been  a  dreadful  and  irrepara- 
ble mistake.  The  tyranny  of  an  unruly  rabble,  when 
endured  beneath  a  man's  own  roof,  with  a  plentiful  purse 

1  Twelfth  Night;  Act  IV.,  Scene  -. 


THE    TALK   OF  MEN  22g 

and  all  his  friends  around  him,  was,  (he  confessed,)  an 
enviable  fate  compared  to  liberty  under  the  mildest  gov- 
ernment on  earth,  when  accompanied  by  poverty,  with 
its  horrid  train  of  evils. ^ 

The  American  exiles,  with  very  few  exceptions,  were 
bitterly  poor.^  Curwen  found  London  "a  sad  lickpenny," 
where  the  vital  air  could  not  be  breathed  unless  at  great 
expense.  Everything  was  ruinously  dear,  —  the  lodg- 
ing ;  the  food  ;  the  wine,  without  the  production  of  which 
no  business  could  be  transacted,  and  no  visitor  hon- 
oured ;  and,  above  all,  the  fuel.  In  January  1776  there 
came  a  cold  Sunday,  when  the  Thames  bore,  and  the 
mercury  stood  at  eight  degrees  below  zero.  "  The  fires 
here,"  Curwen  wrote,  "  are  not  to  be  compared  to  our 
large  American  ones  of  oak  and  walnut.  Would  that 
I  was  away !  "  Numerous  applications  to  the  Treasury 
by  Loyalists,  who  had  stronger  claims  than  his,  excluded 
him  from  the  most  distant  hope  of  relief.  To  beg  from 
chance  acquaintance  was  humiliating,  "and  to  starve 
was  stupid;"  and  so,  —  with  a  mild  stroke  of  sarcasm 
against  Seneca  and  the  long  list  of  morahsts,  heathen 
and  Christian,  who  wrote  most  edifying  treatises  on  the 
duty  of  contentment  and  resignation,  but  had  never 
known  what  it  was  to  want  a  meal,  —  he  went  into 
a  cheap  and  dull  retirement  at  Exeter,  where  he  kept 
body  and  soul  together  on  something  less  than  half  a 
guinea  a  week.-^  John  Wentworth,  who  had  been  for- 
merly Governor  of  New  Hampshire,  resided  in  Europe 
all  through  the  Revolution.  He  was  received  with  ex- 
ceptional favour  by  the  Ministry  and  by  the  King ;  and 
yet  he  esteemed  the  lot  of  an  exile,  at  the  very  best,  to 

1  Samuel  Curwen  to  the  Hon.  Judge  Sewall;    Exeter,  Jan.  19,  1777. 

2  One  of  these  exceptions  was  Charles  Steuart,  a  rich  tobacco-merchant 
of  Norfolk  in  Virginia.  Steuart,  contrary  to  all  intention  of  his  own,  did  a 
memorable  service  to  liberty;  for  he  brought  with  him  from  America  the 
negro  Somerset,  whose  name  will  always  recall  Lord  Mansfield's  declara- 
tion of  the  principle  that  our  free  soil  makes  a  free  man. 

•'  Letters  to  the  Rev'*  Isaac  Smith,  June  6,  1776;  to  Dr.  Charles 
Russell  of  Antigua,  June  10,  1776;  and  to  the  lion.  Judge  Sewall,  Dec.  31, 
1776. 


230 


THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


be  all  but  intolerable.  When  the  war  was  over,  he 
thought  himself  bound  to  give  the  benefit  of  his  experi- 
ence to  those  unhappy  Loyalists  who  still  lingered  on 
their  native  soil,  stripped  of  all  their  property,  and 
exposed  to  the  insults  of  triumphant  and  unforgiving 
adversaries.  However  distressing  might  be  their  pHght, 
he  earnestly  recommended  no  one  to  seek  a  refuge  in 
England  who  could  get  clams  and  potatoes  in  America. 
"  My  destination,"  he  added,  "  is  quite  uncertain.  Like 
an  old  flapped  hat,  thrown  off  the  top  of  a  house,  I  am 
tumbling  over  and  over  in  the  air,  and  God  only  knows 
where  I  shall  finally  alight  and  settle."  ^ 

The  affection  of  the  Massachusetts  LoyaHsts  for  the 
chief  town  of  their  province  grew  with  absence,  and  only , 
ceased  at  death.  A  distinguished  Nova  Scotia  states- 
man, the  son  of  a  refugee,  has  given  a  pleasant  and 
spirited  account  of  his  father's  unalterable  attachment 
to  the  city  of  his  birth,  which  had  cast  him  out.  In  1775 
John  Howe,  who  then  was  just  of  age,  had  served  his 
apprenticeship  as  a  printer,  and,  like  a  true  young 
American,  was  already  engaged  to  be  married ;  and  yet 
"  he  left  all  his  household  goods  and  gods  behind  him, 
carrying  away  nothing  but  his  principles,  and  his  pretty 
girl."  2  He  settled  at  Halifax  and  prospered.  Though 
a  true  Briton,  he  made  no  shame  of  loving  Boston  with 
a  filial  regard.  While  the  conflict  between  England  and 
the  revolted  colonies  was  still  at  its  height,  John  Howe 

1  Sabine's  Loyalists ;  Vol  I.,  page  322,  and  Vol.  II.,  page  10.  In  the 
American  Archives  there  is  a  letter  addressed  by  Thomas  Oliver  to  a  friend 
who  had  escaped  from  Boston  to  Nova  Scotia.  "  Happy  am  I,"  (Oliver 
wrote  from  London,)  "  that  you  did  not  leave  Halifax  to  encounter  the 
expenses  of  this  extravagant  place.  Every  article  of  expense  is  increased 
fourfold  since  you  knew  it.  \Vhat  the  poor  people  will  do,  who  have 
steered  their  course  this  way,  I  cannot  tell.  I  found  Mrs.  Oliver  well,  and 
settled  in  a  snug  little  house  at  Brompton,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lon- 
don; but  I  shall  continue  here  no  longer  than  I  am  able  to  find  an  eco- 
nomical retreat.  I  have  no  time  to  look  about  me  as  yet.  Some  cheaper 
part  of  England  must  be  the  object  of  my  enquiry." 

2  The  words  are  quoted  from  a  speech  delivered  by  the  Honourable 
Joseph  Howe  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1858.  Joseph 
Howe  was  Secretary  of  the  Province,  and  leader  of  the  Liberal  party,  in 
Nova  Scotia. 


THE    TALK   OF  MEN 


231 


did  every  kindness  in  his  power  to  American  prisoners 
of  war,  if  only  they  were  Boston  men  ;  and,  far  into  the 
nineteenth  century,  whenever  he  was  in  poor  heahh,  his 
family,  as  an  infallible  remedy,  shipped  the  old  fellow  off 
southwards  to  get  a  walk  on  Boston  Common.  Wher- 
ever a  banished  New  Englander  wandered,  and  what- 
ever he  saw,  his  model  of  excellence,  and  his  standard 
for  comparison,  was  always  the  capital  of  Massachusetts. 
At  Exeter,  according  to  Judge  Curwen's  calculation,  the 
inhabitants  were  seven-eighths  as  numerous  as  at  Boston; 
but  the  city  was  not  so  elegantly  built,  and  stood  on 
much  less  ground.  Birmingham,  in  its  general  appear- 
ance, looked  more  like  Boston,  to  his  eyes,  than  any 
other  place  in  England.  There  was  something  very 
pathetic  in  the  feeUng  with  which  the  exiles  regarded 
the  home  where  they  never  again  might  dwell.  Awake, 
or  in  dreams,  their  thoughts  were  for  ever  recurring  to 
old  Boston  days ;  they  tried  to  beheve  that  a  more  or 
less  distant  future  would  bring  those  good  times  back 
for  themselves  and  their  families  ;  and  they  industriously 
collected  every  scrap  of  news  which  came  by  letter  from 
a  town  where  their  places  had  already  been  filled  by 
others,  and  their  names  were  by-words.  Assailed  by  the 
fierce  and  implacable  hostility  of  their  own  fellow-citizens, 
and  treated  too  often  with  contemptuous  indifference  in 
England,  they  tasted  the  force  of  that  verse  in  the  Book 
of  Proverbs  which  says :  "  The  brethren  of  the  poor  do 
hate  him.  How  much  more  do  his  friends  go  far  from 
him  !  He  pursueth  them  with  words,  but  they  are  want- 
ing unto  him." 

For,  in  one  important  particular,  a  painful  disillusion 
awaited  the  exiles  at  their  arrival  on  our  shores.  They 
had  anticipated  the  enjoyment  of  much  rational  and 
sympathetic  intercourse  with  the  most  select  and  the  best 
of  company.  In  their  own  country,  —  since  the  troubles 
began,  and  the  Stamp  Act,  and  afterwards  the  Tea-duty, 
had  been  to  the  fore  in  every  conversation,  —  they  had 
been  alarmed  by  the  spread  of  Republicanism,  and  in- 
finitely disgusted    by  the    manners    of    some  who  pro- 


232 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


mulgated  that  novel  and  hated  creed.  The  father  of 
Mrs.  Grant  of  Laggan,  for  instance,  had  acquired  a 
large  property  in  Vermont,  which  he  called  by  the  name 
of  Clarendon,  and  liked  to  describe  as  a  Baronial  estate. 
But  social  tendencies  in  New  England,  (if  ever  they  had 
taken  that  direction,)  now  altogether  ceased  to  point 
towards  the  formation  of  an  aristocracy.  "  My  father," 
wrote  Mrs.  Grant,  "grew  fonder  than  ever  of  fishing 
and  shooting,  because  birds  and  fish  did  not  talk  of 
tyranny  and  taxes.  Sometimes  we  were  refreshed  by 
the  visit  of  friends  who  spoke  respectfully  of  our  dear 
King  and  dearer  country ;  but  they  were  soon  succeeded 
by  some  Obadiah,  or  Zephaniah,  from  Hampshire  or 
Connecticut,  who  came  in  without  knocking,  sate  down 
without  invitation,  lighted  his  pipe  without  ceremony, 
and  began  a  discourse  on  politics  that  would  have  done 
honour  to  Praise  God  Barebones."  ^  In  contrast  to  all 
that  seemed  vulgar  and  offensive  to  them  in  America, 
the  emigrants  had  beguiled  themselves  with  an  ideal 
picture  of  the  welcome  which  they  would  receive  from 
the  refined  society  of  England.  A  writer  unequalled 
in  his  acquaintance  with  the  surface  aspects  of  the  Revo- 
lution, and  not  less  observant  of  the  inward  causes  which 
then  governed  the  ebb  and  flow  of  political  opinion,  has 
remarked  that  a  prodigious  obstacle  to  the  Whig  cause 
in  the  colonies  was  the  worldly  prestige,  "the  purple 
dignity,  the  aristocratic  flavour,"  of  the  Tory  side  of  the 
question.^     To  live  familiarly  amid  such  associations,  to 

1  In  order  to  escape  this  infliction,  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Clarendon 
retreated  to  his  native  Scotland  in  the  summer  of  1770  ;  and,  before  very 
long,  every  acre  that  he  left  behind  him  in  America  had  been  confiscated. 

^  These  are  the  epithets  used  by  I'rofessor  Tyler,  in  the  30th  chapter 
of  his  Literary  History.  He  there  quotes  an  account  by  P'rancis  Hop- 
kinson,  the  Whig  humourist,  of  a  lady  who  dirl  not  possess  one  political 
principle,  nor  had  any  precise  idea  of  the  real  cause  of  the  contest  between 
Great  Britain  and  America  ;  and  who  yet  was  a  professed  and  confirmed 
Tory,  merely  from  the  fascination  of  sounds.  The  Imperial  Crown,  the 
Royal  Robes,  the  High  Court  of  Parliament,  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  Eng- 
land, were  names  of  irresistible  influence  ;  while  captains  and  colonels 
who  were  tailors  and  tavern-keepers,  and  even  the  respectable  personality 
of  General  Washington  the  Virginian  farmer,  provoked  her  unqualified 
disdain. 


THE    TALK   OF  MEN 


233 


»3e  at  home  in  such  circles,  to  be  recognised  as  the  mar- 
tyrs of  loyalty  within  the  very  precincts  of  the  shrine 
where  the  object  of  their  worship  dwelt,  —  such  privi- 
leges would  go  far  to  compensate  the  expatriated  Loyal- 
ists for  all  that  they  had  endured  and  sacrificed. 

Their  disappointment  was  in  proportion  to  their  ex- 
pectations. They  found  the  upper  class  of  Great  Britain 
absorbed  in  its  own  affairs,  and  intent  upon  pleasures 
most  uncongenial  to  a  plain  and  frugal  American  on 
account  of  the  money  they  cost,  the  amount  of  time 
they  consumed,  and  the  scandal  which  not  unfrequently 
attended  them.  In  1790  the  French  emigrants,  who 
sought  sanctuary  across  the  British  Channel,  experi- 
enced much  comfort  and  advantage  from  the  fraternity 
which  had  long  existed  between  the  nobility  of  France 
and  of  England;  but  in  1775  the  knowledge  that  a 
stranger  came  from  Boston,  —  whether  of  his  own  accord, 
or  because  he  could  not  help  it,  —  was  a  poor  introduc- 
tion to  the  good  graces  of  Almack's,  of  Newmarket,  and 
of  Ranelagh.  The  Bostonian  habit  of  mind,  according 
to  the  language  then  in  vogue,  was  marked  by  "  the  low 
cunning  of  a  petty  commercial  people ;  "  and  the  mere 
circumstance  that  a  citizen  of  the  obnoxious  town  was  a 
Tory,  instead  of  a  Whig,  did  not  exempt  him  from  the 
social  consequences  of  that  sweeping  criticism.  A  ghost 
at  a  banquet  was  hardly  more  out  of  place  than  a  sober 
and  melancholy  New  Englander  in  a  St.  James's  Street 
Club.  George  Selwyn,  and  his  Hke,  had  little  use  for  a 
companion  who,  when  people  of  fa.shion  were  mentioned, 
did  not  know  to  what  county  they  belonged,  or  with  what 
families  they  were  connected  ;  who  had  never  in  his  life 
amused  himself  on  a  Sunday,  and  not  much  on  any  day 
of  the  week ;  who  was  easily  shocked,  and  whose  purse 
was  slender.  The  hand  of  charity,  (Judge  Curwen  said,) 
was  very  cold ;  and  the  barriers  which  fenced  in  the  inti- 
macy of  the  titled  and  the  powerful  were  all  but  im- 
penetrable. More  than  twelve  months  after  he  first 
landed  at  Dover,  the  diarist  noted,  as  a  very  uncommon 
event,  that  he  had  a  free  conversation  with  a  couple  of 


234  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

very  affable  gentlemen  ;  "  the  better  sort  of  gentry  being 
too  proud  or  reserved  to  mix  with  those  whom  they  did 
not  know,  or  to  indulge  in  a  promiscuous  chat."  ^ 

Loyalist  emigrants,  who  desired  to  talk  American 
politics  with  Englishmen  from  the  English  point  of  view, 
were  thrown  back  upon  the  casual  acquaintances  of  the 
coffee-house,  the  stage-coach,  and  the  inn  parlour.  Re- 
cruiting-officers, commercial  travellers,  tradesmen  on  a 
surburban  jaunt,  and  gentlemen  of  the  turf  on  the  road 
to  a  race-meeting,  were  among  those  with  whom  they 
frequently  were  reduced  to  consort.  The  allusions  to 
their  own  country,  by  which  on  such  occasions  they 
were  regaled,  though  not  discourteously  meant,^  affected 
them  with  more  pain  than  pleasure ;  for  they  consisted 
mainly  in  sweeping  denunciations  of  vengeance  against 
the  New  England  people,  and  blatant  depreciation  of 
the  New  England  character.  More  than  once  an  exile 
confessed  that  he  felt  nowhere  so  much  at  ease  as  in 
the  company  of  quiet  middle-class  citizens  of  Bir- 
mingham or  Bristol  who  were  opponents  of  the  war; 
for  there,  at  all  events,  whatever  difference  of  opinion 
might  exist  between  the  guest  and  his  hosts,  he  was 
sure  of  hearing  nothing  said  which  grated  on  his  feel- 
ings. Over  and  over  again,  in  public  vehicles  and  in 
places  of  general  resort,  the  refugees  would  gladly  have 
taken  their  share  in  a  reasonable  talk  about  the  equity 
of  demanding  that  the  colonies  should  contribute 
towards  the  expenses  of  our  empire,  and  the  importance 
to  America  of  retaining  her  connection  with  Great 
Britain ;  but  the  dialogue  almost  always  took  such  a 
turn  that,  before  half  a  dozen  sentences  had  been 
spoken,  they  were  forced  by  their  self-respect  as  Amer- 
icans to  assume  the  cudgels  against  defamers  of  their 
nation.     Judge  Curwen,  while  journeying  from  the  West 

1  June  lo,  and  July  13,  1776. 

2  Curwen  was  only  once  subjected  to  direct  and  intentional  imperti- 
nence. "  In  our  way  through  Long  Row  we  were  attacked  by  the  viru- 
lent tongue  of  a  vixen,  who  saluted  us  hy  the  name  of  '  damned  American 
rebels.'"  —  Curwen' s Journal ;  Bristol,  June  17,  1777. 


THE    TALK   OF  MEN 


235 


by  way  of  Tewkesbury,  met  an  officer  who  allowed  him- 
self great  liberties  respecting  America.  "  I  took  the 
freedom  of  giving  him  several  severe  checks  ;  and  my 
companion  spared  not  till  he  was  thoroughly  silenced 
and  humbled.  He  said  many  ungenerous,  foolish,  and 
false  things,  and  I  did  not  forbear  telling  him  so."  In 
December  1776  a  Mr.  Lloyd  of  the  Twentieth  Regi- 
ment, who  had  just  arrived  from  Canada,  treated  the 
New  England  Loyalists  to  a  discourse  which  he  no 
doubt  sincerely  intended  as  a  compHment  to  themselves, 
and  a  tribute  to  their  political  views.  "  He  speaks," 
said  Curwen,  "  of  the  Yankees,  (as  he  is  pleased  to  call 
them,)  as  cowards,  poltroons,  cruel,  and  possessing 
every  bad  quality  the  depraved  heart  can  be  cursed 
with.  It  is  my  earnest  wish  the  despised  Americans 
may  con\'ince  these  conceited  islanders,  by  some  knock- 
down irrefragable  argument,  that,  without  regular  stand- 
ing armies,  our  continent  can  furnish  brave  soldiers  and 
expert  commanders ;  for  then,  and  not  till  then,  may  we 
expect  generous  or  fair  treatment.  It  piques  my  pride, 
I  confess,  to  hear  us  called  '  oiir  Colonies,  our  Plantations,' 
with  such  airs  as  if  our  property  and  persons  were  abso- 
lutely theirs,  like  the  villains  in  the  old  feudal  system."  ^ 
Those  were  strange  sayings  in  the  mouth  of  a  man 
who  had  broken  up  his  life,  and  wrecked  his  happiness, 
because  he  would  not  side  with  the  colonists  in  the 
attitude  which  they  had  adopted  towards  the  mother- 
country.  The  most  distressing  element  in  the  lot  of 
the  emigrants  was  that  they  had  always  been  animated, 
and  now  were  tortured,  by  a  double  patriotism ;  for 
they  were  condemned  to  stand  by,  idle  and  powerless, 
while  the  two  nations,  which  they  equally  loved,  were 
tearing  at  each  other's  vitals.  Symptoms  of  the 
conflict  between  loyalty  to  Britain,  and  affection  for 
America,  are  visible  on  every  page  of  Judge  Curwen's 
Journal,  and  in  every  paragraph  of  his  correspondence. 
He  rejoiced  at  having  justice  done  to  his  countrymen 
by  an  English  officer  of  character  in  Sir  Guy  Carleton's 

1  Curwen' i  Journal ;  Sept.  II,  and  Dec.  i8,  1776. 


236  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

army,  who  testified  tliat  Arnold  and  the  Provincials 
had  displayed  great  bravery  in  the  battle  on  Lake 
Champlain,  but  had  been  out-matched  by  superior 
weight  of  metal.  He  expressed  himself  as  not  a  little 
mortified  when,  standing  on  a  height  which  overlooked 
Plymouth  Harbour,  he  saw  a  captured  American  priva- 
teer brought  round  from  Dartmouth ;  nor  were  his 
ears  a  little  wounded  when  they  were  condemned  to 
hear  another  such  prize  sold  at  open  auction.  He  noted 
with  despair  the  determination  of  the  King  and  his 
advisers  to  overwhelm  and  ruin  the  rebellious  colonies. 
"Would  to  God,"  he  cried,  "that  moderate  and  just 
views  of  the  real  interests  of  both  countries  might  pos- 
sess the  minds  of  those  who  direct  the  public  measures 
here,  and  there !  The  language  of  the  Court,  (the 
papers  say, )  is,  as  it  ever  has  been,  Delenda  est  CartJiago. 
If  this  be  not  slander,  woe  betide  my  poor  country."  ^ 
At  last,  when  Lord  North  and  his  colleagues  began  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  their  senseless  policy  in  a  harvest  of 
national  perils,  Curwen's  fears  for  America,  though 
none  the  less  gloomy,  became  overshadowed  by  his 
anxiety  about  the  future  of  England.  In  March  1778 
he  heard  "the  dreaded  sound,  War  declared  against 
France."  Some  few  days  before,  he  had  written  to  a 
Birmingham  friend  that,  when  he  contemplated  the 
decline  and  fall  of  great  and  powerful  states,  —  and  the 
causes  of  that  decline  which,  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
were  uniformly  the  same,  —  he  could  not  recall  to  his 
mind  the  commanding  and  secure  position  of  Great 
Britain  four  years  since,  as  compared  with  the  present 
alarming  crisis,  without  horror  and  trembling.  "  May 
my  apprehensions,"  he  said,  "  exist  only  in  imagination  ! 
I  had  rather  be  a  mistaken  man  than  a  true  prophet."  ^ 

Those  apprehensions  about  the  stability  of  the  British 
power,  which  racked  the  imagination  of  the  banished 

'^Journal  of  Dec.  21,  1776,  and  Feb.  28,  1777.    Letter  to  the  Reverend 
Isaac  Smith,  Tan.  17,  1778. 

"^Journal  of  March  20,  and  letter  of  March  16,  1778. 


CONTEMPORARY  HISTORIANS  237 

American,  were  always  present  to  the  minds  of  Eng- 
lishmen who  had  watched  many  wars,  who  knew  the 
continent  of  Europe,  who  cared  for  their  country, 
and  who  understood  that  country's  interests.  Horace 
Walpole,  in  more  than  one  manly  and  thoughtful  pas- 
sage, reviewed  the  long  correspondence  with  his  old 
friend  at  Florence  which  had  begun  when  his  own 
father  was  still  Prime  Minister ;  had  continued  while 
England  was  "  down  at  Derby,  and  up  at  Minden  ;  "  and 
was  still  in  progress  now  that  she  had  dashed  herself, 
(so  he  sorrowfully  declared,)  below  the  point  to  which  no 
natural  law  of  gravitation  could  have  thrown  her  in  the 
course  of  a  century.^  The  middle  portion,  said  Walpole, 
of  that  correspondence  had  been  the  most  agreeable. 
Its  earlier  part  was  the  journal  of  a  civil  war,  when  an 
army  of  Scottish  rebels  penetrated  almost  unopposed 
into  the  very  centre  of  the  island.  Fifteen  years  after- 
wards, —  when  our  generals  marched,  and  our  fleets 
sailed,  under  Chatham's  auspices, — it  was  his  proud 
and  pleasant  task  to  recount  victory  upon  victory,  and 
conquest  upon  conquest ;  but  for  the  last  five  years  his 
letters  had  been  the  records  of  a  mouldering  kingdom. 
The  ministers,  indeed,  encouraged  their  countrymen  by 
recalling  how  England  had  more  than  once  maintained 
herself  successfully  against  both  France  and  Spain  ;  but, 
(said  Walpole,)  we  on  former  occasions  had  America  as 
a  weight  in  our  scale  of  the  balance,  whereas  now  it 
was  in  theirs ;  and  moreover  we  then  possessed  a  Lord 
Chatham,  who  did  not  seem  to  have  been  replaced. 
"  As  I  have  no  great  faith,"  he  subsequently  wrote,  "  in 
virtue  tempted  by  power,  I  expect  that  the  American 
leaders  will  not  easily  part  with  dictatorships  and  con- 
sulships to  retire  to  their  private  ploughs.  Oh,  madness 
to  have  squandered  away  such  an  empire  !  '"^ 

Predictions  of  that  sort  were  no  new  things  ;  and 
people  endeavoured  to  relieve  their  uneasiness  by  re- 
minding each  other  how  there  never  had  been  a  time 

1  Horace  Walpole  to  Sir  Horace  Manri  ;  Sept.  5,  1779. 

2  Walpole  to  Mann,  May  27,  1776  ;   June  16,  1779. 


238 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


of  serious  public  danger  when  somebody  did  not  sin- 
cerely believe  that  the  country  was  on  the  verge  of  de- 
struction. Sir  John  Sinclair,  —  the  prince  of  busybodies, 
—  brought  Adam  Smith  the  news  of  Saratoga,  and 
added,  on  his  own  account,  that  the  nation  was  now 
ruined.  "  There  is  a  great  deal  of  ruin  in  a  nation," 
was  the  philosopher's  quiet  reply ;  ^  and  yet  Sir  John 
Sinclair  might  well  have  proved  to  be  in  the  right,  if 
George  the  Third  had  pursued  his  course  to  the  end, 
unchecked.  The  prophets  of  evil,  for  once  in  a  way, 
were  the  wise  men  ;  and  their  predictions  would  un- 
doubtedly have  been  fulfilled  to  the  letter,  had  it  not 
been  for  a  contingency  which  the  most  sanguine  pa- 
triots did  not  venture  confidently  to  anticipate.  How 
long  the  end  would  have  been  in  coming  no  man  for- 
tunately now  can  tell ;  but,  in  the  long  run,  the  policy 
of  the  Court  must  have  been  fatal  to  the  country  unless 
Parliament  had  taken  the  matter  into  its  own  hands, 
and  insisted  on  composing  the  quarrel  with  America. 
Parliament,  however,  during  many  sessions  seemed  to 
have  been  effectually  bribed  into  acquiescence ;  and  the 
means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Treasury  for  gratifying 
the  cupidity  of  venal  politicians  grew  in  proportion  to 
the  growing  expenditure  on  military  and  naval  opera- 
tions. Every  new  expedition  to  the  Carolinas  or  the 
West  India  seas,  and  every  fresh  enemy  who  came 
against  us  in  Europe,  increased  the  mass  of  profits  from 
loans,  and  lotteries,  and  contracts  which  was  available 
for  being  divided  among  supporters  of  the  Government. 
The  war  fed  corruption,  and  corruption  kept  on  foot 
the  war ;  but  there  was  something  in  the  English  nature 
whereon  George  the  Third  and  the  Bedfords  had  not 
counted  ;  and  two  successive  Parliaments,  which  had 
both  begun  very  badly,  shook  themselves  free  from 
the  trammels  of  self-interest  and  servility,  defied  their 
taskmasters,  and  saved  their  country. 

The  scholarship  at  our  universities  in  the  earlier  days 
of  George  the  Third  was  less  severely  accurate  than  it 

^  Life  of  Adam  Smith,  by  John  Rae  ;   chapter  xxii. 


CONTEMPORARY  HISTORIANS  239 

became  during  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  succeeding 
century;  but  many  English  gentlemen,  not  only  at 
college,  but  in  after  life,  read  Latin  as  they  read 
French  ;  and  every  one  who  pretended  to  literature  had 
a  fair  knowledge  of  ancient  history,  and  a  clear  con- 
ception with  regard  to  the  personal  identity,  and  the 
relative  authority  and  merit,  of  the  most  famous  Greek 
authors.  It  was  well  understood  that  the  narratives  of 
Xenophon  and  Polybius,  of  Sallust  and  Suetonius,  owed 
much  of  their  peculiar  excellence  to  the  fact  that  those 
writers  had  been  alive  during  at  least  some  part  of  the 
periods  which  they  treated  ;  and  had  been  acquainted 
with  not  a  few  of  the  warriors  and  rulers  whose  actions 
they  immortalised,  or  whose  mistakes  and  crimes  the}' 
condemned.  Despairing  EngHsh  patriots,  who  correctly 
predicted  a  succession  of  disasters,  but  who  did  not 
foresee  that  the  public  ruin  would  ultimately  be  averted 
by  a  resurrection  of  national  common-sense,  looked 
around  them  for  an  historian  who  might  undertake  the 
melancholy  task  of  chronicling  the  misfortunes  of  Eng- 
land. They  sought  a  Tacitus  ;  and  they  thought  to 
have  discovered  one,  ready  to  their  hand,  in  Doctor 
William  Robertson,  whose  "History  of  Scotland "  had 
founded  his  position  as  an  author,  and  whose  "  History 
of  Charles  the  Fifth  "  had  won  him  a  European  name. 
Robertson  had  for  some  years  been  occupied  with  the 
earlier  annals  of  America,  and  was  steadily  approaching 
the  point  where  he  would  come  into  contact  with  the 
great  political  question  of  the  hour  ;  for  the  first  instal- 
ment of  his  work,  which  appeared  in  1777,  brought  him 
much  more  than  half-way  between  Christopher  Columbus 
and  Charles  Tovvnshend.  The  hopes  excited  in  the 
reading  world  are  indicated  by  Edmund  l^urke,  in 
language  on  a  higher  level  than  is  often  reached  by  a 
letter  of  thanks  for  a  presentation  copy.  "There  re- 
mains before  you  a  great  field.  1  am  heartily  sorry  we 
are  now  supplying  you  with  that  kind  of  dignity  and 
concern  which  is  purchased  to  history  at  the  exjjcnsc  ot 
mankind.      I  had  rather,  by  far,  that  Dtxtor  Robertson's 


240 


THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


pen  were  employed  only  in  delineating  the  humble 
scenes  of  political  economy,  and  not  the  great  events 
of  a  civil  war.  However,  if  our  statesmen  had  read  the 
book  of  human  nature  instead  of  the  Journals  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  history  instead  of  Acts  of 
Parliament,  we  should  not  by  the  latter  have  furnished 
out  so  ample  a  page  in  the  former.  .  .  .  Adieu,  Sir ! 
Continue  to  instruct  the  world,  and,  —  whilst  w^"  carry 
on  a  poor  unequal  conflict  with  the  passions  and  preju- 
dices of  our  day,  perhaps  with  no  better  weapons  than 
other  passions  and  prejudices  of  our  own,  —  convey 
wisdom  to  future  generations."  ^ 

Robertson's  "  America "  was  ransacked  greedily  by 
people  who  hoped  to  discover  in  its  pages  satirical 
references  to  current  events,  and  arch  strokes  against 
the  politicians  of  their  own  time.  But  the  admirable 
historians  whom  that  generation  produced,  both  in 
Edinburgh  and  in  London,  habitually  refrained  from 
those  contemporary  allusions  which  a  French  writer  has 
stigmatised  as  the  sidelong  leers  of  history,  in  contra- 
distinction to  her  straightforward  and  honest  glances 
into  the  facts  of  the  past.  In  his  account  of  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Western  Continent,  Doctor  Robertson  had 
much  to  say  about  the  projects  of  Las  Casas,  and  much 
about  James  the  First  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh ;  but 
there  was  not  a  phrase  which  could  be  twisted  into  a 
covert  expression  of  his  views  on  the  Declaratory  Act 
or  the  Boston  Port  Bill.  Sedate  and  sagacious  Scotch 
divine  that  he  was,  he  had  no  intention  whatever  of 
diving  into  a  perilous  controversy  which  he  was  not 
enough  of  a  partisan  even  to  enjoy.  Although  he  con- 
sidered the  Americans  premature  in  asserting  their 
independence,  he  none  the  less  was  of  opinion  that  the 
whole  matter  had  been  sadly  mismanaged  by  the  Cab- 
inet.2  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Doctor  Robertson 
was   the    King's    Historiographer  for   Scotland.      The 

1  Edmund  Burke,  Esq.,  to  Doctor  Robertson  ;   June  lo,  1777. 

2  Letter  from  Doctor  Robertson  of  October  6,  1775,  as  printed  in  Section 
III.  of  his  Life  by  Dugald  Stewart. 


CONTEMPORARY  HISTORIANS 


241 


emolument,  indeed,  was  of  no  object  to  him  in  compari- 
son with  the  profits  of  literature ;  for  his  "  Charles  the 
Fifth "  alone  had  produced  a  sum  of  money  which 
amounted  to  twice  the  capital  value  of  his  official  salary. 
Nor,  as  he  on  more  than  one  occasion  gave  honourable 
proof,  was  he  afraid  of  speaking  his  mind  when  he  con- 
ceived reticence  to  be  unworthy  of  his  station  and  his 
character.  But  the  post  of  Historiographer  had  been 
revived,  with  the  King's  consent  and  at  the  King's  cost, 
as  a  particular  compliment  to  Robertson  himself;  and 
he  was  not  disposed  to  requite  his  Majesty's  favour  by 
recording,  for  the  information  of  all  time,  the  improvi- 
dence and  incapacity  of  his  Majesty's  ministers. 

Robertson  had  a  stronger  reason  yet  for  circum- 
spection and  caution  in  his  reluctance  to  begin  telling  a 
story  whose  catastrophe  was  still  hidden  in  the  unknown 
future.  His  professional  pride  as  an  historian  forbade 
him  to  put  forward  theories,  and  deliver  judgements, 
which  the  issue  might  show  to  be  erroneous,  and  even 
ridiculous.  In  whatever  manner,  (so  he  wrote  in  the 
preface  to  the  first  volume  of  his  History,)  the  unhappy 
contest  might  terminate,  a  new  order  of  things  must 
arise  in  North  America,  and  American  affairs  would 
assume  quite  another  aspect.  He  would  therefore  "wait, 
with  the  solicitude  of  a  good  citizen,  until  the  ferment 
subsided,  and  regular  government  was  again  estab- 
lished." When  those  days  arrived  Robertson  must 
expect  to  be  over  sixty ;  and  an  extensive  history, 
commenced  at  that  time  of  life,  is  too  often  not  so  much 
a  tribute  to  Clio  as  an  excuse  to  Charon.  The  Latin 
saying,  which  warns  the  artist  that  life  is  brief,  came 
forcibly  home  to  one  who  had  so  continuously  and  con- 
scientiously practised  the  very  longest  among  all  the 
arts. 

Robertson  apart,  of  the  triumvirate  of  noted  British 
historians  Gibbon  and  David  Hume  remained ;  but 
Hume  did  not  remain  long.  He  died  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  August,  1776,  and  met  his  fate  with  a  cheerful 
serenity  which  deeply  scandalised  some  excellent  persons 

VOL.    III.  R 


242 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


who  had  pleased  themselves  by  conceiving  a  very  dif- 
ferent picture  of  the  sceptic's  death-bed.^  But,  though 
without  any  uneasiness  as  to  what  might  befall  himself, 
he  passed  away  in  the  conviction  that  immense  dangers 
overhung  the  country.  A  stronger  Tory  than  George 
the  Third,  Hume  had  not  allowed  his  views  and  preju- 
dices concerning  home  politics  to  blind  his  insight  into 
colonial  questions.  The  most  caustic  remarks  about 
the  folly  of  alienating  the  Americans,  and  the  impossi- 
biUty  of  subduing  them,  came  from  the  pen,  not  of  any 
Whig  or  Wilkite,  but  of  David  Hume ;  and  Hume  was 
a  Jacobite  who  would  have  been  heartily  pleased  if  the 
King  had  hanged  Wilkes,  had  shot  down  the  Liverymen 
and  their  apprentices  by  hundreds,  and  then,  after 
making  a  terrible  example  of  London,  had  announced 
his  intention  of  reigning  ever  afterwards  in  Stuart 
fashion.^  The  autumn  before  his  death  Hume  was 
requested  to  draw  up  an  Address  to  the  Crown  from  the 
county  of  Renfrew ;  but  he  declined,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  an  American  in  principle,  and  wished  that 
the  colonists  should  be  let  alone  to  govern,  or  misgovern, 
themselves  as  they  thought  proper.  If,  (such  was  the 
form  that  his  suggestion  took,)  the  inhabitants  of  the 
county  felt  it  indispensably  necessary  to  interpose  in 
public  affairs,  they  should  advise  the  King  to  punish 
those  insolent  rascals  in  London  and  Middlesex  who 
had  set  at  nought  his  authority,  and  should  dutifully 
inform  him  that  Lord  North,  though  an  estimable 
gentleman,  had  no  head  for  great  military  operations. 

1  Any  mention  of  the  calmness  and  equanimity  with  which  Hume 
departed  this  life  never  failed  to  arouse  in  Doctor  Johnson  very  opposite 
emotions.  Adam  Smith  had  borne  testimony  to  the  tranquillity  of 
his  friend's  closing  hours ;  and  Johnson  could  not  forgive  him.  Sir 
Walter  Scott's  account  of  the  interview  at  Glasgow  between  the  two 
philosophers,  in  spite  of  the  serious  nature  of  the  topic,  is  a  gem  of 
comedy.  Note  to  Croker's  edition  of  Boswell's  Tour  to  the  Hebrides, 
under  the  date  of  the  29th  October,  1773. 

^  Hume  prayed  that  he  might  see  the  scoundrelly  mob  vanquished, 
and  a  third  of  London  in  ruins.  "  I  think,"  he  wrote,  "  I  am  not  too  old 
to  despair  of  being  witness  to  all  these  blessings."  Hume  to  Sir  Gilbert 
Elliot ;   22nd  June,  1 768. 


CONTEMPORARY  HISTORIANS  243 

"These,"  (he  said,)  "are  objects  worthy  of  the  respect- 
able county  of  Renfrew  ;  not  mauHng  the  poor  unfor- 
tunate Americans  in  the  other  hemisphere."^ 

Gibbon,  indeed,  was  still  in  his  prime ;  but  he  did 
not  even  contemplate  the  notion  of  exchanging  the 
colossal  literary  undertaking,  to  which  he  looked  for 
the  establishment  of  his  fame  and  the  improvement  of 
his  modest  fortune,  for  such  a  hypothetical  theme  as 
the  decline  and  fall  of  England.  He  had  no  inclination 
to  leave  untold  the  defeat  of  Attila  at  Chalons,  and  the 
siege  of  Constantinople  by  Mahomet  the  Second,  in 
order  to  expend  his  gorgeous  rhetoric  over  the  battle 
at  Monmouth  Court  House,  or  the  investment  and 
evacuation  of  Boston.  His  political  opponents,  who 
likewise  were  his  constant  and  famiUar  associates, 
professed  to  discover  a  less  respectable  motive  for  his 
unwillingness  to  transfer  his  historical  researches  into 
another  field. 

"  King  George,  in  a  fright 
Lest  Gibbon  should  write 

The  story  of  England's  disgrace, 
Thought  no  way  so  sure 
His  pen  to  secure 

As  to  give  the  historian  a  place." 

The  little  poem,  whereof  that  is  the  first  stanza,  has  been 
attributed  to  Charles  Fox,  and  most  certainly  it 
emanated  from  Brooks's  Club ;  an  institution  which 
contained  a  group  of  witty  and  scholarly  men  of  the 
world    who,  —  as   the   graceful,    flowing   verse   of    the 

1  Letter  to  Baron  Mure;  Oct.  27,  1775.  Hume  was  closely  connected 
with  John  Crawford,  the  friend  of  Charles  Fox  and  the  Member  for  Ren- 
frewshire. It  was  Crawford  who  induced  young  Lord  Tavistock  to  read 
Hume's  History,  which  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  a  careful  Whig  parent,  had 
forbidden  his  son  and  heir  to  open. 

A  very  few  mcjnths  before  his  death  Hume  confided  to  his  most 
intimate  friend  his  belief  that  England  was  on  the  verge  of  decline,  and 
pronounced  himself  unable  to  give  any  reason  for  the  complete  absence 
of  administrative  genius,  civil  and  military,  which  marked  the  period. 
John  Home's  Diary  of  his  Journey  to  London  in  compauy  with  David 
Hume;  April  30,  1776. 

R2 


144 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


Rolliad  very  soon  made  manifest,  —  literally  thought  in 
rhyme.  Brooks's  had  an  exceedingly  strong  case  against 
Gibbon.  In  the  first  stages  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion he  was  a  staunch,  though  a  silent,  adherent  of  the 
Ministry ;  but  he  consorted  mainly  with  the  Opposition, 
among  whom  he  found  that  which,  to  his  excellent 
taste,  was  the  best  company  in  London. ^  He  belonged 
to  the  club  as  of  right ;  for,  great  man  of  letters 
though  Gibbon  was,  he  never  ceased  to  be  a  recognised 
personage  in  the  world  of  fashion.  He  wrote  his 
letters  at  Brooks's ;  he  supped  there,  or  at  Almack's, 
after  the  House  of  Commons  was  up  for  the  night ;  and 
he  freely  accepted  the  condition  on  which  alone  it  was 
possible  to  enjoy  good  Whig  society,  inasmuch  as  he 
listened  tolerantly,  —  and,  (as  time  progressed,)  even 
complacently, — to  orthodox  Whig  views.  "Charles 
Fox,"  he  wrote,  "is  now  at  my  elbow,  declaiming  on 
the  impossibility  of  keeping  America,  since  a  victorious 
army  has  been  unable  to  maintain  any  extent  of  posts 
in  the  single  province  of  Jersey."^ 

Gibbon,  —  to  whom  usually,  at  this  period  of  their 
acquaintance,  Fox  was  "  Charles,"  and  nothing  more 
distant  or  ceremonious,  —  loved  the  young  statesman, 
and  never  tired  of  hearing  him  discourse.  The  his- 
torian, however,  did  not  need  any  one  to  teach  him  the 
deductions  which  his  own  bright  and  powerful  intellect 
drew  from  a  contemplation  of  the  political  facts. 
Gibbon's  familiar  epistles  already  frankly  indicated  that 
he  had  begun  to  pass  through  the  mental  process  which, 
sooner  or  later,  was  traversed  by  almost  every  sensible 
man  in  the  country  whose  perceptions  were  not  dis- 
torted by  the  promptings  of  self-interest.  Even  before 
Saratoga  he  had  serious  qualms.     In  August   1777  he 

^"This  moment  Beauclerk,  Lord  Ossory,  Sheridan,  Garrick,  Burke, 
Charles  Fox,  and  Lord  Camden,  (no  bad  set,  you  will  perhaps  say,)  have 
left  me."  Gibbon  to  J.  B.  Holroyd,  Esq.  ;  Saturday  night,  14th  March, 
1778.  "I  have  been  hard  at  work  since  dinner,"  (he  wrote  elsewhere,) 
"  and  am  just  setting  out  for  Lady  Payne's  Assembly  ;  after  which  I  wiU 
perhaps  sup  with  Charles,  etcetera,  at  Almack's." 

2  Almack's  ;    Wednesday  evening,  March  5,  1777. 


CONTEMPORARY  HISTORIANS  245 

spoke  of  himself  as  having  found  it  much  easier  to 
defend  the  justice,  than  the  policy,  of  the  ministerial 
measures ;  and,  —  in  a  phrase  worthy  to  stand  among 
the  weightiest  that  he  ever  printed,  —  he  admitted  that 
there  were  certain  cases  where  whatever  was  repugnant 
to  sound  policy  ceased  to  be  just.  In  the  following 
December,  Gibbon  had  got  to  the  point  of  saying  that, 
however  the  Government  might  resolve,  he  could  scarcely 
give  his  consent  to  exhaust  still  further  the  finest  country 
in  the  world  by  the  prosecution  of  a  war  whence  no 
reasonable  man  entertained  any  hope  of  success ;  in 
February  1778  he  stated  it  as  his  opinion  that  Lord 
North  did  not  deserve  pardon  for  the  past,  applause  for 
the  present,  nor  confidence  for  the  future ;  and  on  one 
critical  occasion  he  passed  from  word  to  action,  and 
voted  with  Fox  in  a  division  bearing  on  the  conduct  of 
the  war.i  None  the  less,  in  the  summer  of  the  next 
year,  he  became  a  Lord  Commissioner  of  Trade  and 
Plantations.  He  joined  a  Board  where,  according  to 
Edmund  Burke,  eight  members  of  Parliament  received 
salaries  of  a  thousand  pounds  a  year  apiece  for  doing 
nothing  except  mischief,  and  not  very  much  even  of 
that; 2  and  thenceforward,  as  by  contract  bound,  he 
acted  with  the  ministers.  His  story  curiously  illustrated 
the  artificial  and  mechanical  character  of  the  support 
which  enabled  the  Court  to  prolong  the  American  war 
in  opposition  to  the  genuine  wish  of  the  people.     Eleven 

^  On  February  the  2nd,  1778,  Gibbon  was  in  a  minority  of  165  to  259 
on  Fox's  motion,  "That  no  more  of  the  Old  Corps  be  sent  out  of  the 
Kingdom." 

2  Burke's  Speech  on  presentiiig  to  the  House  of  Commons  a  Plan  for  the 
better  Security  of  the  Independence  of  Parliament,  and  the  Economical 
Reformation  of  the  Civil  and  other  Rstahlishmetits.  The  passage  relating 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations, —  in  itself  a  treasury  of  wit  and 
wisdom,  —  covered  a  twelfth  part  'ji  that  vast  oration,  anti  must  have  taken 
twenty  minutes  to  deliver.  "I  can  never  forget  the  delight  with  which 
that  diffusive  and  ingenious  orator  was  heard  by  all  sides  of  the  llijuse, 
and  even  Ijy  those  whose  existence  he  proscribed.  The  Lords  of  Trade 
blushed  at  their  own  insignificance."  That  good-humoured  confession  is 
from  a  note  in  the  incjst  comprehensive  of  Gibbon's  numerous  Autoljio- 
graphies. 


246 


THE  AMERICA.Y  REVOLUTION 


days  before  accepting  office,  Gibbon,  in  Brooks's  Club, 
had  informed  as  many  of  the  members  as  stood  within 
hearing  that  there  could  be  no  salvation  for  the  country 
until  the  heads  of  six  of  the  principal  persons  in  the 
Administration  were  laid  upon  the  table.  That  trucu- 
lent sentence  was  carefully  entered  by  Charles  Fox  in 
his  copy  of  the  "  Decline  and  Fall,"  with  the  addition 
of  some  biting  comments.  Two  years  afterwards  an 
execution  took  place  at  Fox's  house,  and  all  the  volumes 
in  his  library  were  sold  by  auction ;  —  whether  he  had 
acquired  them  on  credit  at  a  shop,  or,  (which  was  the 
case  here,)  as  a  present  from  the  author.  Poor  Charles's 
autograph  enhanced  the  value  of  the  History.  "  Such," 
wrote  Walpole,  "was  the  avidity  of  bidders  for  the 
smallest  production  of  so  wonderful  a  genius  that,  by 
the  addition  of  this  little  record,  the  book  sold  for  three 
guineas."  ^ 

In  default  of  these  great  authors  whose  names  are 
still  known,  and  whose  works  are  still  read,  expectation 
was  for  a  while  concentrated  upon  a  writer  who  then 
lived  in  a  halo  of  celebrity  which  is  now  dim  almost  to 
extinction.  Mrs.  Catherine  Macaulay,  the  sister  of 
Lord  Mayor  Sawbridge,  had  for  many  years  past  been 
giving  to  the  press  a  History  of  England  from  the 
Accession  of  the  Stuart  Family.  Each  successive 
volume  was  hailed  by  able,  learned,  and  even  cynical, 
men,  (if  only  they  were  Whigs,)  with  admiration  and 
delight  quite  incomprehensible  to  modern  students. 
Mason  pronounced  Mrs.  Macaulay's  book  the  one 
history  of  England  which  he  had  thought  it  worth  his 
while  to  purchase,  and  confessed  his  national  pride  to  be 
gratified  when  he  learned  that,  although  her  husband's 
name  was  Scotch,  she  herself  had  been  born  of  English 
parents.     Gray  ranked  her  above  every  previous  author 

^  Last  Journals ;  June  20,  1781.  Anthony  Storer,  writing  to  Lord 
Carlisle,  gave  a  somewhat  different  account  of  the  matter.  "  Charles's 
books,  which  were  seized,  were  sold  this  week.  Gibbon's  book,  which 
contained  the  manuscript  note  by  Charles,  was  smuggled  from  the  sale  ; 
for,  though  Charles  wished  to  have  sold  it,  yet  it  never  was  put  up. 
He  bought  in  most  of  his  books  for  almost  nothing." 


CONTEMPORAR  Y  HIS  TORIANS 


247 


who  had  attempted  the  same  subject,  and  thereby  gave 
her  the  preference  over  Clarendon,  Hume,  and  Burnet ;  ^ 
and  Horace  Walpole  endorsed  Gray's  estimate  in  the 
most  unqualiiied  language,  George,  Lord  Lyttelton, 
the  historian  of  Henry  the  Second,  said  that  she  was  a 
prodigy,  —  solemnly  and  sincerely,  as  he  said  every- 
thing,—  and  exhorted  mankind  to  erect  statues  in  her 
honour.  Portraits  of  Mrs.  Macaulay,  in  fancy  characters, 
and  by  engravers  of  note,  were  on  every  print-seller's 
counter ;  and  an  artist  came  over  from  America  ex- 
pressly in  order  to  model  her  and  Lord  Chatham  in  wax. 
She  was  one  of  the  sights  which  foreigners  were  carried 
to  see  in  London  ;  and  she  met  with  flattering  attentions 
in  Paris,  where  England  was  so  much  in  fashion  that 
current  English  reputations  were  taken  unreservedly, 
and  sometimes  even  rapturously,  on  trust.  Among  the 
more  audacious  thinkers  in  the  society  of  the  French  capi- 
tal enthusiasm  was  ecstatic  with  regard  to  a  lady  who 
was  a  republican  by  conviction,  and  the  severity  of  whose 
strictures  upon  a  State  clergy  were  not  prompted  by  the 
narrowness  or  fanaticism  of  a  religious  sectary.^ 

Overrated  by  some  clever  judges,  and  adulated  by 
many  foolish  people  in  exceedingly  foolish  ways,  Cath- 
erine Macaulay  was  at  the  height  of  her  repute  when 
the  American  controversy  was  developed  into  a  war. 
In  one  month  of  1776  three  set  panegyrics  on  her  tal- 
ents and  deserts  appeared  in  the  columns  of  a  single 
London  newspaper.^  Readers  were  keenly  excited  by 
her  promise  of  a  "  History  of  England  from  the  Revolu- 

1  So  did  not  Lord  Macaulay.  An  industrious,  but  not  very  discerning, 
critic  had  remarked  that  Bishoj)  Hurnet's  History  of  His  Otvn  Times  was 
of  a  class  with  the  works  of  OUlmixon,  Keiim;tt,  and  Macaulay.  That 
lady's  distinguished  namesake  wrote  thus  on  the  margin  of  the  passage  : 
"  Nonsense  !  Who  reads  Oldmixon  now  ?  Who  reads  Kennett  ?  Who 
reads  Kate  Macaulay  ?     Who  does  not  read  Burnet  ?  " 

2  "What  could  persuade  the  writer  that  Mrs.  Macaulay  was  a  Dis- 
senter ?  T  believe  her  blood  was  not  polluted  with  the  smallest  tniut  of 
that  kind."  Kxtract  from  a  letter,  as  given  in  Nichols's  Literary  Anec- 
dotes ;  Vol.  L\.,  page  6S9. 

3  The  opening  of  a  Birthday  Address,  (by  a  poet  who  was  not  afraid  of 
repeating  an  adjective  which  pleased  his  fancy,)  exemplifies  the  taste  of 


248 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


tion  to  the  Present  Time,  in  a  series  of  Letters  to  the 
Reverend  Doctor  Wilson,  the  Rector  of  St.  Stephen's, 
Walbrook ;  "  for  Mrs.  Macaulay  had  not  emancipated 
herself  from  the  delusion  that  sprightliness  could  be 
infused  into  a  dull  book  by  arranging  its  contents  in 
the  form  of  epistolary  correspondence.  "  Sir  Robert 
Walpole,  my  friend,  was  well  acquainted  with  the  blind- 
ness of  the  nation  to  every  circumstance  which  regarded 
their  true  interest."  That  is  a  specimen  sentence  from 
Mrs.  Macaulay  ;  and  it  is  difificult  to  imagine  how  such 
a  style  of  composition  could  be  tolerated  by  Horace 
Walpole,  whose  own  youthful  narrative  of  the  scenes  in 
Parliament,  which  led  up  to  his  father's  fall,  palpitates 
with  life  as  do  the  political  letters  of  Cicero. 

The  literary  form,  into  which  Mrs.  Macaulay  had 
thrown  her  History,  proved  in  the  sequel  fatal  to  her 
reputation  as  an  author.  The  Doctor  Wilson,  for  whose 
edification  the  book  professed  to  be  written,  was  no  or- 
dinary, or  parsimonious,  admirer.  He  had  made  over 
to  Mrs.  Macaulay  his  house  at  Bath,  with  the  furniture 
and  library ;  he  placed  her  statue,  adorned  with  the  at- 
tributes of  the  Muse  of  History,  inside  the  altar-rails  of 
his  church  ;  and  he  built  a  vault  where  her  remains 
should  rest  when  her  spirit  had  joined  the  immortals.^ 

the  age,  and  the  high-flown  language  which  it  was  customary  to  use  when 
compUmenting  Mrs.  Macaulay.  She  was  born  in  April  ;  and  she  then 
resided  at  Alfred  House,  —  a  name  that  suggested  the  motive  of  the  poem. 

"  Just  patriot  King  !     Sage  founder  of  our  laws, 
Whose  life  was  spent  in  virtue's  glorious  cause  : 
If  aught  on  earth,  blest  saint,  be  worth  thy  care, 
Oh  !  deign  this  day's  solemnity  to  share, 
(Sacred  to  friendship  and  to  festive  mirth,) 
The  day  that  gave  the  fair  Macaulay  birth  ; 
Whose  learned  page,  impartial,  dares  explain 
Each  vice,  or  virtue,  of  each  different  reign. 
Which  tends  to  violate  thy  sacred  plan, 
Or  perfect  what  thy  sacred  laws  began. 

Blest  month !     Tho'  sacred  to  the  Cyprian  Dame 
This  day,  at  least,  let  sage  Minerva  claim, 
(Sacred  to  friendship  and  to  social  mirth,) 
The  day  which  gave  her  loved  Macaulay  birth  ! 

1  Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes  ;  Vol.  VIIL,  page  45S. 


THE  PAMPHLETEERS 


249 


The  first  volume  of  the  Continuation  of  her  History  was 
pubhshed  in  1778.  Before  that  year  ended  Mrs.  Macau- 
lay  took  to  herself  a  second  husband,  who  was  very 
much  less  than  half  her  own  age,  and  who  was  not  Doctor 
Wilson.  The  statue  was  at  once  removed,  the  house 
reclaimed,  and  the  vault  sold.  The  clergyman  and  the 
lady  paraded  their  mutual  grievances  before  a  disen- 
chanted world  ;  and  that  world,  as  its  custom  is,  revenged 
its  own  infatuation  upon  the  idol  whom  it  had  unduly 
worshipped.  The  complimentary  odes,  in  which  her 
praises  had  once  been  sung,  gave  place  to  satirical  paro- 
dies reflecting  on  a  Certain  Female  Patriot ;  the  new 
book  was  recognised  to  be  detestably  bad ;  and  it  was 
the  last  of  the  series.  A  sense  of  humour  could  not  be 
counted  among  Mrs.  Macaulay's  gifts  ;  but  she  perceived 
the  absurdity  of  continuing,  through  a  long  succession  of 
volumes,  to  pour  forth  exhaustive  disquisitions  on  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  minute  examinations  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Charters,  interspersed  with  affectionate  epithets 
addressed  to  an  elderly  gentleman  between  whom  and 
herself  there  notoriously  existed  an  irreconcileable  quarrel. 

No  worthy  record  of  that  eventful  time  can  be  found 
in  any  contemporary  book  which  was  deliberately  com- 
piled as  a  history  ;  but  the  age  nevertheless  gave  birth 
to  a  vast  mass  of  political  literature,  written  for  the  pur- 
pose of  the  moment,  some  portion  of  which  will  never 
be  allowed  to  die.  There  is  a  stirring  and  decisive 
chapter  in  the  story  of  ancient  Greece  which  a  good 
scholar  makes  shift  to  pick  out,  and  piece  together,  for 
himself  from  the  orations  of  yEschines  and  Demosthenes  ; 
and  so,  —  between  the  day  that  George  the  Third  insti- 
tuted the  system  of  Personal  Government,  down  to  the 
day  when  the  American  war,  (the  chief,  and  almost  the 
solitary,  fruit  and  product  of  that  system,)  ended  in 
public  disaster  and  national  repentance,  —  the  most  brill- 
iant and  authentic  account  of  the  period  may  be  drawn 
from  Edmund  Burke's  published  speeches  and  contro- 
versial treatises.     Apart  from,  and  above,  their  unique 


250  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

literary  merit,  those  performances  are  notable  as  show- 
ing how  the  gravity  of  a  statesman,  and  the  sense  of 
responsibility  which  marks  a  genuine  patriot,  can  co-exist 
with  an  unflinching  courage  in  the  choice  and  the  hand- 
ling of  topics.  That  courage,  in  Burke's  case,  had  been 
exercised  with  impunity  throughout  the  most  perilous  of 
times.  Multitudinous  and  formidable  were  the  assailants 
whose  attacks,  from  the  in-coming  of  Lord  Bute  to  the 
out-going  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  were  directed  against 
the  King,  and  those  King's  Friends  who  made  office 
a  purgatory  for  every  King's  Minister  whom  the  King 
did  not  love ;  but  all  their  effusions  together  were  less 
damagingin  their  effect  on  the  minds  of  impartial  men  than 
the  "  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents," 
the  last  ten  pages  of  the  "  Observations  on  a  late  State 
of  the  Nation,"  and  one  very  brief  paragraph  of  courtly 
and  almost  reverential  irony  in  that  marvel  of  point  and 
compression  which  is  entitled  a  "  Short  Account  of  a 
Short  Administration."  ^ 

Other,  and  less  redoubtable,  critics  of  the  Government, 
—  as  well  as  the  very  craftsmen  who  printed,  and  the 
tradesmen  who  sold,  their  writings,  —  were  punished 
with  the  utmost  rigour  of  the  law,  and  harassed  by  the 
arbitrary  vindictiveness  of  Parliament ;  but  neither  the 
Attorney-General,  nor  the  Sergeant-at-Arms,  ever  med- 
dled with  Burke  or  his  publishers.  It  was  the  strongest 
possible  testimonial,  on  the  part  of  his  adversaries,  to 
his  character  and  his  standing  in  the  country.  The 
agents  of  the  Government  would  no  more  have  ventured 
to  prosecute  Edmund  Burke  for  libel  than  they  would 
have  dared  to  arrest  Lord  Chatham  on  a  charge  of  treason 
as  he  passed  out  of  the  House  of  Lords  after  dehvering 

1  "  In  the  prosecution  of  their  measures  they  were  traversed  by  an  Op- 
position of  a  new  and  singular  character;  an  Opposition  of  placemen  and 
pensioners.  They  were  supported  by  the  confidence  of  the  nation;  and, 
having  held  their  offices  under  many  difficulties  and  discouragements,  they 
left  them  at  the  express  command,  as  they  had  accepted  them  at  the 
earnest  request,  of  their  Royal  Master."  So  mildly  did  Burke  refer  to  the 
usage  which  Lord  Rockingham  and  his  colleagues  encountered  from 
the  monarch  whom  they  so  faithfully  served. 


THE  PAMPHLETEERS 


251 


one  of  his  diatribes  against  the  influence  of  the  Crown. 
Burke  enjoyed  immunity  himself,  and  extended  the 
shield  of  his  protection  over  his  humbler  associates  in 
the  business  of  giving  his  opinions  to  the  reading  world, 
during  the  miserable  years  when  the  persecution  of  the 
Press  was  at  its  height.  All  the  more,  after  the  Ameri- 
can difficulty  had  become  serious,  —  when  the  power  of 
the  Executive  was  on  the  decline,  and  the  Censorship  had 
lost  its  terrors,  —  the  great  Whig  publicist,  if  his  taste 
and  self-respect  had  permitted,  might  safely  have  pur- 
sued the  Court  and  the  Cabinet  with  an  unbounded 
licence  of  invective.  But  he  wisely  preferred  to  set 
forth  his  opinions  with  the  same  measured  and  dignified 
force  of  argument  and  illustration  as  he  had  displayed 
when  the  Middlesex  Election  was  the  question  of  the 
day.  He  could  not,  indeed,  write  better  than  he  had 
written  already  ;  but  close  reasoning,  supported  by  a 
solid  array  of  facts  and  figures,  has  nowhere  been  pre- 
sented in  a  shape  more  attractive  and  persuasive  than  in 
Burke's  "  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,"  and  in  the 
authorised  report  of  his  "  Speech  on  moving  the  Reso- 
lutions for  Conciliation  with  America." 

A  literary  work  of  rare  merit  seldom  stands  alone, 
and  in  most  cases  proceeds  from  the  pen  of  one  who 
does  best  what  many  around  him  are  attempting  to  do 
well.  Burke's  masterpieces  were  produced  at  a  time 
when  the  political  essay  was  widely  practised,  and  held 
in  great  account.  The  historian,  who  is  destined  to  re- 
late the  events  of  our  own  generation,  will  be  under  an 
obligation  to  read  leading  articles  by  the  furlong  and  the 
mile  ;  for,  during  the  past  half-century,  the  leading  article 
has  frequently  dictated  the  action  of  the  State,  has  in- 
spired or  terrorised  its  rulers,  and  has  kept  them  up  to 
the  mark,  or  below  it,  until  their  allotted  task  has,  for 
good  or  evil,  been  accomplished.  But  between  1 774  and 
1783  the  leading  article,  strictly  so  called,  was  yet  in  the 
future.  The  news  in  newspapers,  already  ample  in 
quantity,  year  by  year  improved  in  accuracy;  but  the 
editorial  comments  on  public  affairs  were  confined   to 


252  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

paragraphs  of  five  or  six,  to  a  dozen,  lines,  allusive  rather 
than  explanatory  in  their  character,  and  for  the  most 
part  of  a  humorous  and  satirical  tendency.  Serious  in- 
struction and  exhortation  were  conveyed  to  the  world  in 
the  pamphlets  of  well-known  men  who  acknowledged 
their  authorship  ;  and,  (within  the  columns  of  daily  and 
weekly  journals,)  by  means  of  long,  elaborate,  and  often 
extremely  able  letters,  signed  by  some  adopted  name,  for 
the  periodical  reappearance  of  which  a  large  circle  of 
readers  eagerly  looked.  Charles  Fox,  who  was  conver- 
sant with  every  legitimate  method  of  influencing  opinion, 
has  clearly  drawn  the  distinction  between  the  signed 
letter  and  the  newspaper  paragraph.  Grave  problems 
in  foreign  and  domestic  politics  must,  (he  said,)  first  be 
treated  in  some  earnest  and  plain  way,  and  must  be  much 
explained  to  the  public  before  any  paragraphs  alluding 
to  them  could  be  understood  by  one  in  a  thousand. ^ 
These  responsible,  or  semi-responsible,  personal  mani- 
festoes, (for  a  writer  who  styled  himself  Atticus  or  Publi- 
cola  was  expected  to  be  rational  in  his  arguments,  and 
constitutional  in  his  views,  almost  as  much  as  one  who 
called  himself  by  his  Christian  name,  and  his  surname,  in 
full,)  had  never  been  so  numerous,  or  attained  so  high  an 
average  level  of  excellence,  as  during  the  American  war. 
Junius,  indeed,  whoever  Junius  was,  had  not  published  a 
single  sentence  of  print  since  Philip  Francis  sailed  for 
India.  A  conspicuous  niche  was  vacant,  which  no  single 
successor  or  imitator  had  been  reckoned  worthy  to  fill ; 
but  the  lists  of  controversy  were  thronged  by  a  perfect 
phalanx  of  well-informed  and  fervid  partisans,  who, 
under  a  variety  of  Greek  and  Roman  pseudonyms,  in- 

1  "  I  cannot  think  as  you  do  of  the  insignificancy  of  newspapers,  though 
I  think  that  others  overrate  their  importance.  I  am  clear,  too,  that  para- 
graphs alone  will  not  do.  Subjects  of  importance  should  be  first  gravely 
treated  in  letters  or  pamphlets  or,  (best  of  all  perhaps,)  in  a  series  of  let- 
ters ;  and  afterwards  the  paragraphs  do  very  well  as  an  accompaniment. 
It  is  not  till  a  subject  has  been  so  much  discussed  as  to  become  thread- 
bare that  paragraphs,  which  consist  principally  in  allusions,  can  be 
generally  understood."  Fox  to  Fitzpatrick  ;  St.  Ann's  Hill  ;  Sunday, 
November,  (or  December,)  1785. 


THE  PAMPHLETEERS  253 

sisted  on  the  madness  of  the  policy  which  Parhament 
had  adopted,  and  held  up  to  reprobation  the  ministerial 
and  military  blunders  which  prevented  that  policy  from 
being  crowned  with  even  a  transitory  success. 

As  opposed  to  all  this  spontaneous  ardour,  and  unfet- 
tered intellectual  activity,  there  was  very  little  indepen- 
dent talent  on  the  side  of  the  ministers.  It  was  their 
own  fault.  In  Parliament,  and  in  literature,  they  had 
bought  up  everything  that  was  for  sale  ;  and  they  found 
themselves  in  the  position  of  a  general  when  he  has 
overpaid  his  mercenaries,  and  cannot  get  volunteers  who 
are  disposed  to  fight  for  him,  and  willing  to  subject 
themselves  to  the  necessary  discipline.  Doctor  Tucker, 
the  Dean  of  Gloucester,  was  a  declared  adversary  of  the 
Rockingham  party.  His  pamphlets  had  a  large  circula- 
tion ;  but  he  took  a  line  of  his  own  which  sorely  em- 
barrassed the  Government.  A  disinterested  man,  he 
possessed  a  cultured  and  original  mind,  with  a  singularly 
accurate  perception  of  the  direction  in  which  the  world 
was  moving.  When  his  gaze  swept  a  sufficiently  wide 
horizon,  he  gave  proofs  of  a  foresight  which  is  the  won- 
der of  those  who  have  learned  by  frequent  disappoint- 
ments what  their  own  pohtical  prophecies  are  usually 
worth. ^  He  was,  however,  woefully  deficient  in  tact ; 
and  his  ignorance  of  the  motives  which  guided  the 
action  of  contemporary  public  men,  and  parhamentary 
parties,  was  hopeless  and  complete.  He  appears  sin- 
cerely to  have  beheved  that  the  opponents  of  the  Court, 
whom  he  called  the  Modern  Republicans,  were  in  point 
of  fact  Jacobites  who  admired  Doctor  Price  as  their 
predecessors  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  had  admired 
Doctor  Sacheverell.  Doctor  Price  wrote  much  and  well 
in  favour  of  reconciliation  with  America ;  and  Dean 
Tucker  was  never  so  happy  as  when  belabouring  him 

1  "  I  have  observed,"  (Dean  Tucker  wrote,)  "  that  measures  evi.lently 
right  will  prevail  at  last.  Therefore  I  make  not  the  least  I  )oubl  that  .i 
Separation  from  the  Northern  Colonies,  —  and  also  another  rij^ht  measure, 
viz.,  a  complete  Union  and  Incorporation  with  Irclaiui,  —  (however  un- 
popular either  of  them  will  now  appear,)  will  both  take  place  within  half 
a  century." 


254 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


and  Edmund  Burke  on  account  of  their  partiality  for 
the  New  England  colonists,  whom  the  Dean  himself 
cordially  abominated.  But  his  blows  seldom  got  home 
upon  either  of  his  antagonists ;  and  the  cudgel  with 
which  he  laid  about  him  dealt  back-strokes  that  hit  a 
ministerial,  and  occasionally  even  a  Royal,  head. 

Here,  (argued  the  Doctor,)  is  a  discontented  and 
riotous  population,  three  thousand  miles  away  across  the 
ocean,  who  do  not  like  us,  and  do  not  want  us.  We 
may  flatter  them,  and  cajole  them,  and  try  to  appease 
them  by  making  one  concession  and  surrender  after 
another ;  and  then,  when  we  have  eaten  a  mountain  of 
humble-pie  compounded  for  us  by  the  philosophers  and 
orators  of  the  Opposition,  the  Americans  will  perhaps 
graciously  consent  to  pretend  that  they  will  abide  a 
while  longer  in  their  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown. 
But,  as  they  increase  in  strength  and  numbers,  an  army 
of  fifty  thousand,  and  before  long  a  hundred  thousand, 
English-born  soldiers,  (and  none  others  can  be  trusted,) 
will  scarcely  be  sufficient  to  keep  their  turbulent  spirits 
in  awe,  and  prevent  them  from  breaking  forth  into 
insurrection  at  every  favourable  opportunity.  And  how 
could  such  an  insurrection  be  quelled }  What  British 
officer,  civil  or  military,  would  be  so  foolhardy  as  to 
order  the  troops  to  fire  on  a  New  England  mob,  with 
the  assured  prospect  that,  if  any  of  the  bullets  carried 
straight,  he  would  be  tried  for  his  life  on  a  charge 
of  murder  before  a  New  England  jury  }  ^  Mr.  Burke, 
(said  Tucker,)  would  deserve  much  better  of  his  country 
if,  —  in  place  of  giving  the  colonists  fair  words  in  print, 
and  speaking  respectfully  and  affectionately  about  them 
when  he  was  addressing  the  House  of  Commons,  — he 
would  bid  them  cut  themselves  loose  from  Great  Britain, 
and  thenceforward  go  their  own  ways,  to  their  inevitable 
loss  and  ruin.  That  was  Dean  Tucker's  logical  posi- 
tion ;  and  that  was  his  advice  in  the  year  1774.  He  un- 
doubtedly made  Burke  very  angry ;  but  Lord  North  and 
the  King  would  sometimes  have  been  quite  as  thankful 

iDean  Tucker's  Fourth  Tract  ;  1775. 


THE  PAMPHLETEERS  255 

if  their  reverend  ally  had  only  been  pleased  to  leave  the 
Cabinet  undefended. 

The  destitution  to  which  ministers  were  reduced  for 
want  of  advocates  obliged  them  to  accept  assistance 
from  a  very  questionable  quarter.  John  Shebbeare  had 
now  during  nearly  two  generations  been  a  scandal  to 
letters.  His  coarseness  and  effrontery  in  the  give  and 
take  of  private  society  have  been  faithfully  portrayed  by 
Fanny  Burney,  a  judge  of  manners  as  indulgent  and  as 
uncensorious  as  was  compatible  with  native  refinement 
and  feminine  delicacy.^  Shebbeare  made  his  livelihood 
by  defamation  and  scurrility.  His  first  literary  effort 
was  a  lampoon  on  the  surgeon  from  whom  he  had  re- 
ceived a  medical  education ;  and  his  last  was  entitled 
"The  Polecat  Detected;"  which  was  a  libel,  and  not, 
(as  might  have  been  supposed,)  an  autobiography. 
During  the  reign  of  George  the  Second,  Shebbeare  had 
been  severely,  —  and,  indeed,  arbitrarily  and  most  im- 
properly, —  punished  for  a  fierce  attack  upon  the  House 
of  Hanover.  He  now  enjoyed  a  pension  of  two  hun- 
dred pounds  a  year  ;  and  he  was  aware  of  the  conditions 
on  which,  for  such  as  he,  the  payment  of  his  quarter's 
stipend  depended.  Throughout  the  American  war  he 
vilified  the  group  of  great  statesmen,  whom  George  the 
Third  persisted  in  regarding  as  adversaries,  with  the 
same  ill-bred  vehemence  which  he  had  formerly  directed 
against  that  line  of  kings  who  were  the  rivals  and  sup- 
planters  of  the  Stuarts.  Shebbeare  was  the  man  whose 
name  Thomas  Townshend,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
had  coupled  with  that  of  Samuel  Johnson,  on  the  ground 
that  they  both  had  once  been  Jacobites,  and  both  now  were 
pensioners  ;  and  Townshend's  ill-natured  remark  had 
called  forth  from  Charles  Fox  an  eloquent  and  indignant 

1  On  the  20th  February,  1774,  Miss  Burney  and  some  of  her  friends, 
one  of  whom  was  a  very  younjj  girl,  were  unfortunate  enoujjh  to  find 
themselves  {guests  in  the  same  drawing-room  as  Shebbeare.  "  lie  abso- 
lutely ruined  our  evening;  for  he  is  the  most  morose,  rude,  gross,  and  ill- 
mannered  man  I  ever  was  in  company  with."  Much  of  his  conversation, 
as  reported  by  Miss  Burney  with  her  transparent  fidelitv,  was  incredibly 
brutal;    and  still  worse  passages  were  crossed  out  in  tho  iiuuuiscript. 


256  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

protest    which,    to  his   dying   day,   Johnson    gratefully 
recollected. 

There  were  members  of  the  Government  who  had 
long  been  anxious  to  enlist  Doctor  Johnson's  literary 
skill,  and  personal  authority,  on  behalf  of  the  Govern- 
ment measures.  In  this  case  there  was  no  compulsion. 
The  King  entertained  a  true  regard  for  his  eminent 
subject,  and  felt  a  lively  satisfaction  at  the  thought  that 
his  own  generosity  had  enabled  a  great  author,  —  who 
had  long  known  want,  and  sorrow,  and  the  slavery  of 
set  tasks  and  uncongenial  labours,  —  to  spend  the  rest 
of  his  days  in  conversation,  and  travel,  and  the  desul- 
tory and  fragmentary  reading  which  he  so  dearly  loved. 
It  was  Johnson  himself  who  conceived  that  his  duty 
towards  his  Royal  Master  required  him  to  do  a  good 
turn  for  those  ministers  who  possessed  the  Royal  fa- 
vour; and  he  intimated  his  willingness  to  assist  the 
Cabinet  with  his  pen.  The  subject  of  each  successive 
pamphlet  was  suggested  to  him  by  great  men  in  office ; 
but  the  opinions  which  he  enunciated  were  unmistak- 
ably his  own.  Indeed,  Johnson  was  so  strong  a  partisan 
that  the  censors  of  Downing  Street  interfered  with  him 
only  to  tone  down  his  declarations  of  policy,  and  to 
blunt  the  edge  of  his  satire.  One  cutting  and  con- 
temptuous epigram  in  his  "  Thoughts  on  the  late  Trans- 
actions Respecting  the  Falkland  Islands "  so  scared 
Lord  North  that  the  sale  of  the  first  edition  was  stopped 
after  only  a  few  copies  had  got  abroad.^  In  the 
spring  of  1775  Johnson  brought  out  his  "Taxation  no 
Tyranny,"  which,  as  the  title  implied,  went  down  to  the 
root  of  the  quarrel  between  Great  Britain  and  America. 
It  was  revised  and  curtailed  by  the  ministerial  critics, 

1  The  words  which  did  not  please  Lord  North  related  to  George  Gren- 
ville,  and  originally  stood  thus  :  "  Let  him  not,  however,  be  depreciated 
ia  his  grave.  He  had  powers  not  universally  possessed.  Could  he  have 
enforced  payment  of  the  Manilla  ransom,  he  could  have  counted  it."  In 
the  second  edition  the  sentence  ran  :  "  He  had  powers  not  universally 
possessed  ;  and,  if  he  sometimes  erred,  he  was  likewise  sometimes  in  the 
right;  "  which  is  true  of  every  public  man  that  ever  lived,  and  does  not 
require  a  Samuel  Johnson  to  say  it. 


THE  PAMPHLETEERS 


257 


who  struck  out  of  the  text  one  passage  as  unnecessarily- 
insulting  and  alarming  to  the  colonists.^  Johnson's 
sturdy  good-humour  was  proof  against  a  trial  which 
would  have  touched  the  vanity  of  a  more  susceptible 
author.  If,  (he  said,)  an  architect  had  planned  a  build- 
ing of  five  stories,  and  the  man  who  employed  him 
ordered  him  to  build  only  three,  it  was  the  employer, 
and  not  the  architect,  who  must  decide. 

The  utmost  severity  of  expurgation  would  have  failed 
to  convert  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny  "  into  a  felicitous  per- 
formance. Admirable,  and  thrice  admirable,  disquisi- 
tions on  State  affairs  have  been  published  by  famous 
literary  men  who  descended  for  a  while  into  the  arena 
of  political  controversy.  Such  were  Swift's  "  Exam- 
iners;" and  Addison's  "Freeholders;"  and,  (better 
still,  and  nearer  to  our  own  times,)  Sydney  Smith's 
"  Plymley  Letters  "  on  the  Cathohc  Claims.  Nor  was 
any  more  ably  composed,  and  entirely  readable,  State 
paper  ever  issued  than  that  Memoir,  in  the  French 
language,  in  which  Gibbon,  at  the  request  of  ministers, 
towards  the  commencement  of  1778  submitted  the  case 
of  England,  as  against  France,  to  the  judgement  of 
Europe.  But  Johnson  was  not  even  potentially  a  states- 
man. He  had  never  thought  deeply,  or  wisely,  on 
politics ;  and  his  everyday  conversation  abundantly 
proved  him  to  be  pecuHarly  ill  adapted  for  arriving  at 
a  just  conclusion  upon  the  American  question.  He  was 
incapable  of  maintaining  a  rational  and  considerate 
attitude  towards  any  great  body  of  men  with  whose 
opinions  he  disagreed.  His  vociferous  declamations 
against  the  Americans  were  annoying  and  oppressive 
to  the  companions  with  whom  he  lived.  He  might  be 
heard,  (they  complained,)  across  the  Atlantic.  The 
study    which    he    bestowed    upon    the    commercial    in- 

1  "  He  told  me,"  wrote  Boswell,  "  that  they  had  struck  out  one  passage 
which  was  to  the  effect  :  'That  the  colonists  could  with  no  solidity  argue, 
from  their  not  having  been  taxed  wliilc  in  thiir  infancy,  that  tliey  should 
not  now  be  taxed.  We  do  not  put  a  calf  into  the  plough.  We  wait  till 
he  is  an  ox.'  " 

VOL.   III.  S 


158 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


teref.ts,  which  so  profoundly  affected  the  relations 
bet\^^een  the  mother-country  and  her  colonies,  had  been 
very  superficial.  He  once  comforted  a  friend,  who  was 
anxious  about  the  effect  of  the  war  upon  trade,  by  assur- 
ing him  that,  if  we  had  no  commerce  at  all,  we  could 
live  very  well  upon  the  produce  of  our  own  island.  On 
the  connection  between  taxation  and  parliamentary  rep- 
resentation, which  his  treatise  was  ostensibly  written  to 
discuss,  he  argued  like  a  man  who  had  not  the  most  ele- 
mentary conception  of,  or  sympathy  with,  the  principle 
of  self-government.  He  was  fond  of  saying  that  a 
gentleman  of  landed  property  did  well  to  evict  all  his 
tenants  who  would  not  vote  for  the  candidate  whom  he 
supported.  If  he  himself,  (so  the  great  moralist  once 
put  it,)  were  a  man  of  large  estate,  he  would  drive  every 
rascal,  whom  he  did  not  like,  out  of  the  country,  as  soon 
as  ever  an  election  came. 

When  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny "  appeared  in  print, 
most  of  Johnson's  admirers  perused  the  piece  with 
regret,  and  with  something  of  apprehension.  They 
began  to  fear  that,  as  a  writer,  he  had  seen  his  best 
days ;  and  they  never  recovered  their  confidence  in  his 
powers  until,  some  years  later  on,  his  "  Lives  of  the 
Poets  "  were  given  to  a  charmed  and  astonished  world. 
There  he  was  on  his  own  ground.  There  he  revelled 
in  the  consciousness  of  supreme  capability.  He  cast 
aside,  at  that  late  moment,  the  elaborate  and  florid 
diction  of  his  early  and  middle  period.  During  the 
half  of  every  day,  and  of  every  night,  since  the  well- 
directed  bounty  of  the  State  had  made  him  his  own 
master,  he  had  been  discoursing  on  every  conceivable 
topic  to  all  who  were  privileged  to  listen ;  and  he  had 
insensibly  acquired  the  habit  of  writing  as  he  talked. 
He  now  had  an  ideal  subject  for  a  biographer  endowed 
with  his  vigorous  common-sense,  his  vast  and  insatiable 
interest  in  the  common  things  of  life,  and  his  acute  per- 
ception of  the  rules  which  ought  to  govern  conduct. 
We  may  well  doubt  whether  so  delightful  and  instruc- 
tive a  book  as  Johnson's  "  Poets,"  on  a  large  scale  and 


THE    CALM  ADDRESS 


259 


of  serious  purpose,  was  ever  commenced  and  finished 
in  the  two  years  that  precede,  and  the  two  that  follow, 
the  age  of  seventy.^ 

Johnson's  pamphlet,  by  indirect  means,  obtained  a 
startling  notoriety.  His  bolts  fell  innocuous ;  but  his 
thunder  awoke  an  echo  which  was  heard  far  and  wide. 
Of  all  people  then  living,  —  of  all,  perhaps,  who  ever 
lived,  —  no  one  had  so  profound  an  acquaintance  with 
the  state  of  opinion  at  home,  and  in  America,  as  John 
Wesley.  He  knew  Scotland  well,  and  England  as  a 
man  must  know  it  who  preached  eight  hundred  sermons 
annually,  in  all  corners  of  the  island ;  who,  fine  or  rain, 
travelled  his  twelve-score  miles  a  week  on  horseback, 
or  in  public  vehicles,  which  for  him  was  a  more  peril- 
ous mode  of  conveyance  ;2  and  who  lodged,  —  an  easily 
contented,  an  affable,  and  a  communicative  guest, — 
with  the  farmer,  the  tradesman,  and  the  cottager.  Soon 
and  late,  he  more  than  fifty  times  crossed  the  Irish 
Channel.  He  had  passed  nearly  two  years  in  America ; 
and  he  had  learned  by  personal  experience  how  long  it 
took  to  get  there ;  a  fact  ill  understood  by  those  min- 
isters who  had  misgoverned  our  remote  colonies  in 
peace,  and  who  now  were  attempting  to  reconquer 
them  by  war.  Wesley  relates,  in  the  first  pages  of  his 
incomparable  "Journal,"  how  he  and  his  comrades  took 
ship  at  Gravesend  on  the  fourteenth  of  October,  1735; 
and  how,  on  the  following  fifth  of  February,  God 
brought  them  all  safe  into  the  Savannah  river.  The 
voyage  was  long  enough  for  him  to  learn  German,  and 

^  Carlyle  completed  his  Frederic  the  Great  when  close  on  seventy  ;  but 
he  had  been  working  at  it  fourteen  years. 

2  Wesley  had  reached  old  age  when  the  American  war  began  ;  nnd 
thenceforward  he  more  frequently  rode  in  a  post-chaise,  or  a  mail-coach. 
It  is  worth  a  reader's  while  to  c(junt  the  number  of  his  carriage  accidents, 
if  only  as  an  occasion  for  going  through  the  last  volume  of  the  Journai 
once  again.  Sometimes  he  made  a  safe  journey,  as  from  Coventry  in 
July  1770.  "I  took  coach  for  London.  I  was  nobly  attended.  Bthind 
the  coach  were  ten  convicted  fidons,  loudly  blaspheming,  anil  rattling 
their  chains.  By  my  side  sat  a  man  with  a  hjaded  blunderbuss,  and 
another   upon  the  coach." 

s  2 


260  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

increase  threefold  the  number  of  communicants  who 
attended  his  ministrations  on  board.  Ever  since  that 
time  he  had  been  kept  minutely  informed  of  what  was 
passing  in  America  by  disciples  for  whom  it  was  a 
privilege  to  correspond  with  him,  and  a  sacred  duty  to 
write  him  the  truth. 

As  recently  as  the  year  1770,  —  when  New  England 
was  already  in  a  state  of  dangerous  effervescence,  and 
the  military  occupation  of  Boston  had  actually  com- 
menced,—  John  VVesley  stated  in  print  that  he  did  not 
defend  the  measures  which  had  been  taken  with  regard 
to  America  ;  and  that  he  doubted  whether  any  man 
could  defend  them  either  on  the  foot  of  law,  equity,  or 
prudence.^  So  he  openly  told  the  world ;  and  in  secret 
he  dealt  very  faithfully  indeed  with  the  advisers  of  the 
Crown.  He  addressed  to  them  a  series  of  most  impres- 
sive letters,  in  which  the  exalted  diction  of  an  old  Scrip- 
tural prophet  added  force  and  dignity  to  the  solid 
arguments  of  a  sagacious  and  patriotic  Englishman. 
He  warned  them  plainly  that  the  Americans  were  an 
oppressed  people,  asking  for  nothing  more  than  their 
legal  rights ;  who  were  not  frightened,  and  would  not 
be  easily  conquered.  As  fighting  men,  (he  said  in  so 
many  words,)  they  were  enthusiasts  of  liberty,  contend- 
ing for  hearth  and  altar,  wife  and  children,  against  an 
army  of  paid  soldiers  "none  of  whom  cared  a  straw  for 
the  cause  wherein  they  were  engaged,  and  most  of 
whom  strongly  disapproved  of  it."  And  he  had  gone 
so  far  as  to  implore  the  Prime  Minister,  for  God's  sake 
and  for  the  King's  sake,  not  to  permit  his  sovereign  to 
walk  in  the  ways  of  Rehoboam,  of  PhiHp  the  Second  of 
Spain,  and  of  Charles  the  First  of  England. 

That  was  John  Wesley's  view,  as  conveyed  to  Lord 
North  on  the  fifteenth  of  June,  1775.  Before  the  sum- 
mer was  over  there  appeared  a  quarto  sheet  of  four 
pages,  professing  itself  to  be  "  A  Calm  Address  to  our 
American  Colonies  by  the  Reverend  John  Wesley,  M.  A." 
It   was    sold  for   a    penny,   and  was   bought  by   forty 

^  Wesley's  Free  Thoughts  on  the  Present  State  of  Public  Affairs. 


THE    CALM  ADDRESS  26 1 

thousand  purchasers,  who  were  amazed  at  finding  it 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  an  abbreviated  version  of 
"  Taxation  no  Tyranny,"  pubHshed  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  original  whence  it  was  derived.  The  little 
piece  was  redolent  of  Johnson's  prejudices,  and  so  full 
of  violent  and  random  assertions  that  no  room  was  left 
for  those  temperate  expostulations  which  the  title  prom- 
ised. Wesley  assured  the  colonists,  —  and  it  must  have 
been  news  to  Samuel  Adams  and  to  John  Dickinson, — 
that  the  discontent  in  America  was  not  of  native  origin. 
It  had  been  produced,  (he  declared,)  by  the  books  and 
pamphlets  of  wicked  and  artful  writers  resident  in  Eng- 
land, whose  object  was  to  overset  the  British  Constitu- 
tion ;  and,  considering  that  the  chief  among  those  writers 
was  Edmund  Burke,  to  whom  every  tittle  of  the  British 
Constitution  was  as  the  Law  to  a  Pharisee  or  the  Koran 
to  a  good  Mahommedan,  there  was  something  exqui- 
sitely ludicrous  in  such  a  statement.  The  nearest  ap- 
proach to  an  argument  in  Wesley's  tract  was  an  appeal 
to  the  people  of  New  England,  whom,  with  less  than 
his  customary  shrewdness,  he  appears  to  have  esteemed 
a  very  simple-minded  folk.  "You  say  that  you  inherit 
all  the  rights  which  your  ancestors  had  of  enjoying  all 
the  privileges  of  Englishmen.  You  are  the  descendants 
of  men  who  either  had  no  votes,  or  resigned  them  by 
emigration.  You  have  therefore  exactly  what  your  an- 
cestors left  you ;  not  a  vote  in  making  laws  nor  in 
choosing  legislators,  but  the  happiness  of  being  pro- 
tected by  laws,  and  the  duty  of  obeying  them."  It  would 
be  difficult  to  compress  into  so  few  words  any  theory 
of  citizenship  less  satisfying  to  the  political  aspirations 
of  Americans,  either  past  or  present. 

Wesley's  change  of  attitude  bordered  on  the  gro- 
tesque, and  to  some  of  his  followers  was  perfectly  be- 
wildering. At  the  general  election  of  the  previous  year 
he  had  advised  Bristol  Methodists  to  vote  for  the  candi- 
dates who  were  in  favour  of  conciliation  with  America ; 
and  he  had  urged  his  friends  to  procure  and  study  a  pam- 
phlet called  "  An  Argument  in  Defence  of  the  Exclusive 


262  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Right  claimed  by  the  Colonies  to  tax  themselves."  That 
circumstance  Wesley  had  forgotten  ;  as  a  man  of  his 
years,  and  his  enormous  and  multifarious  occupations, 
might  be  excused  forgetting  anything.  Rudely  accused 
of  insincerity,  he  examined  his  memory,  and  admitted 
that  he  had  read  the  pamphlet  in  question,  and  had 
agreed  with  its  conclusions.  In  answer  to  the  charge 
that  he  had  recommended  it  to  the  attention  of  others, 
he  quietly  replied :  "  I  believe  I  did  :  but  I  am  now  of 
another  mind."  Wesley's  candour  failed  to  disarm  his 
opponents.  The  "  Calm  Address  "  aroused  a  tempest 
of  controversy  ;  and  during  several  publishing  seasons  the 
great  preacher  was  exposed  to  hailstorms  of  wild  calumny, 
and  unsavoury  abuse.  He  was  furiously  denounced  as 
a  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing;  a  Jesuit  and  a  Jacobite  un- 
masked ;  ^  a  chaplain  in  ordinary  to  the  Furies ;  and  a 
Minister  Extraordinary  to  Bellona,  the  Goddess  of  War. 
John  Wesley  contemplated  this  explosion  of  passion 
with  mild  surprise,  in  which  his  adversaries  detected  a 
touch  of  irony ;  for  his  intention,  (he  said,)  had  been  to 
pour  water,  instead  of  oil,  upon  the  flame,  and  to  con- 
tribute his  mite  towards  quenching  the  conflagration 
which  over-ran  the  land.  He  reminded  his  younger  coad- 
jutors that  Christian  ministers  should  be  peacemakers, 
loving  and  tender  to  all,  and  not  addicted  to  either 
party.  So  anxious  was  he,  according  to  his  own  account, 
to  avoid  the  possibility  of  offence,  that,  when  invited  to 
preach  about  a  matter  which  savoured  of  politics,  he 
took  the  precaution  of  writing  down  his  sermon  before- 
hand; but,  all  the  same,  those  opponents  of  the  Minis- 
try who  chanced  to  be  present  were  told  from  the  pulpit 
that  they  had  screamed  for  liberty  till  they  were  utterly 
distracted,  and  their  intellects  quite  confounded.  At  a 
later  moment  in  the  war  Wesley  bethought  himself  of 

1  It  was  not  the  first  time  that  Wesley  had  been  called  a  Jesuit.  He 
once  was  preaching  at  Dublin  to  a  large  assemblage.  "  One  of  them, 
after  listening  some  time,  cried  out,  shaking  his  head :  '  Ay :  he  is  a 
Jesuit;  that's  plain.'  To  which  a  Popish  Priest,  who  happened  to  be 
near,  replied  aloud:  'No;  he  is  not.  I  would  to  God  he  was! '"  Jour- 
nal iox.  May  15,  1748. 


THE    CALM  ADDRESS  263 

issuing  a  "  Calm  Address  "  to  the  inhabitants  of  Eng- 
land, who  by  that  time  needed  to  be  soothed  and  paci- 
fied almost  as  much  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies. 
But  the  effect  produced,  by  this  his  second  message  of 
peace,  upon  contending  factions  was  weakened  by  an 
announcement  that  he  himself  would  no  more  continue 
in  fellowship  with  Methodists,  who  hated  the  King  and 
Lord  North,  than  with  Sabbath-breakers,  or  thieves,  or 
drunkards,  or  common  swearers,  —  or  with  another  class 
of  heinous  sinners  whom  he  described  by  an  uncompro- 
mising epithet  which  modern  delicacy  has  banished  from 
ordinary  use.^ 

Wesley  was  taunted  by  the  Whig  satirists  for  having 
borrowed  from  Johnson  without  acknowledgement ;  but 
no  objection  was  raised  by  Johnson  himself,  who  had 
some  ground  for  serious  annoyance.  The  shorter  piece, 
which,  by  its  vast  sale,  had  superseded  the  pamphlet 
whereof  it  was  an  abridgement,  brought  into  strong 
relief  the  worst  defects  of  the  original  composition  ; 
for  the  "  Calm  Address,"  (to  employ  an  old  simile,) 
was  to  "  Taxation  no  Tyranny  "  as  a  bad  hash  is  to  a 
bad  joint.  So  soon  as  any  mention  of  plagiarism  arose, 
Wesley  hastened  to  place  on  record  that  his  own  pub- 
lication was  but  a  reproduction  in  little  of  Doctor 
Johnson's  more  elaborate  work.  His  whole  view  of  the 
American  question,  (he  confessed,)  had  been  funda- 
mentally altered  by  a  single  perusal  of  that  masterly 
and  irresistible  treatise.  Such  a  conversion,  instan- 
taneous as  any  that  Wesley  wrought  during  the  sixty- 
four  years  of  his  ministry,  was  a  practical  compliment 
which  no  author  could  resist.  Johnson  warmly  assured 
him  that,  to  have  won  over  a  mind  like  his,  outweighed 
a  multitude  of  ordinary  suffrages  ;  and  compared  him- 
self to  the  philosopher  who,  when  he  saw  the  rest  of 
his  audience  slinking  away  from  a  lecture,  refused  to 
quit  the  chair  as  long  as  Plato  stayed.'^ 

'  The  Life  and  Times  of  the  Re'i'erend  fohn  Wesley^  by  the  Reverend 
L.  Tyerman;    Vol.  III.,  sections  headed  1775  and  1 777. 
^  Johnson  to  Wesley  ;    Feb.  6,  1776. 


264  ^^^   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

The  reception  of  Wesley's  effort  to  instruct  and  con- 
vince his  fellow-countrymen  affords  a  notable  proof  that 
virtue  and  disinterestedness,  public  esteem  and  vener- 
able age,  will  fail  to  avert  the  roughest  of  treatment 
from  all  who  venture  upon  an  incursion  into  politics. 
Gibbon,  in  the  course  of  this  very  year,  declared  that  the 
ministerial  majority  in  the  House  of  Commons,  —  when 
the  month  of  May  was  half  through,  and  the  end  of  the 
Session  in  sight, — would  not  hear  even  the  Archangel 
Gabriel  on  the  subject  of  America ;  and  Wesley's  ex- 
perience showed  that  angry  partisans,  on  the  Whig  side 
of  the  controversy,  had  neither  consideration  nor  charity 
for  one  who,  if  ever  man  did,  deserved  to  be  called  a 
saint.  A  score  of  lampoons  charged  him  with  being 
actuated  by  self-interest ;  and  that  accusation  was  re- 
peated by  a  man  of  the  world,  who  was  as  little  compe- 
tent to  interpret  the  thoughts  of  John  Wesley  as  Festus 
and  Gallio  were  to  understand  St.  Paul.  The  artful  patri- 
arch of  the  Methodists,  (so  Horace  Walpole  wrote,)  had 
produced  the  "  Calm  Address  "  in  order  to  court  his 
patron.  Lord  Dartmouth;  since  he  probably  hoped  either 
for  a  deanery  or  a  bishopric.  Wesley  refuted  the  impu- 
tation in  phrases  which  most  certainly  were  very  unlike 
those  of  a  courtier.  He  had  published  the  tract,  (he 
said,)  not  to  please  any  man,  high  or  low;  for  he  knew 
mankind  too  well.  He  knew  that  they,  who  love  you 
for  your  political  service,  love  you  less  than  their  dinner; 
and  they,  who  hate  you,  hate  you  worse  than  the  Devil. 
The  true  and  sufificient  explanation  of  W'esley's  action  is 
not  far  to  seek.  He  was  a  Tory,  just  as  much  as  Doctor 
Parr,  and  Doctor  Richard  Watson,  were  Whigs  ;  and 
most  Englishmen  will  stretch  a  point  in  order  to  support 
their  party  when  its  fortunes  are  depressed,  and  its 
future  dark  and  dubious.  Wesley  was  much  concerned 
by  the  aspect  of  politics.  The  ministers,  (as  he  was  not 
afraid  to  tell  them,  and  that  right  bluntly,)  were  very 
generally  detested  by  the  nation  ;  and  the  personal  un- 
popularity of  George  the  Third  made  his  devoted  subject 
seriously  unhappy  and  profoundly  apprehensive.     Wes- 


THE    CALM  ADDRESS  265 

ley  was  firmly  convinced  that  the  throne,  and  even  the 
royal  life,  would  be  in  danger  if  any  fresh  disasters 
occurred  abroad,  and  if  the  ferment  at  home  grew  hot- 
ter. At  such  a  crisis  he  was  instinctively  and  irresistibly 
drawn  to  rally  in  defence  of  his  party  and  his  Sovereign ; 
and,  (as  men  in  those  circumstances  will,)  he  brought 
himself  round  to  approve  a  policy  which,  in  public  and 
in  private,  he  had  been  accustomed  severely  to  condemn. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

THE  COLONIAL  CHURCHES.  THE  BISHOP  QUESTION  IN 
AMERICA.  THE  CLERGY  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.  THE 
FINAL    SETTLEMENT 

The  colonial  difficulty,  like  our  own  Civil  War,  arose 
ostensibly  and  immediately  from  a  question  of  taxation ; 
but  in  1775,  as  in  1642,  the  contending  parties  were  in- 
spired and  stimulated  by  religious,  at  least  as  much  as 
by  fiscal,  considerations.  That  truth  was  perceived  by 
some  contemporary  spectators  of  the  American  contest ; 
and  it  is  almost  universally  recognised  by  those  who,  in 
our  own  day,  have  applied  themselves  to  a  comprehen- 
sive and  unbiassed  study  of  the  past.  Vital  religion 
was,  indeed,  a  less  absorbing  motive  in  the  eighteenth, 
than  in  the  seventeenth,  century.  Men  were  occupied 
with  more  varied,  more  mundane,  and  perhaps  more 
selfish,  interests  in  the  later  period  than  in  the  earlier. 
They  talked  less  habitually  in  Scriptural  language,  and 
dwelt  less  exclusively  upon  the  niceties  of  doctrine.  The 
society  in  which  George  Washington  lived  was  not  per- 
vaded and  swayed  by  theology  like  the  England  of 
Charles  the  First  and  Oliver  Cromwell ;  but  the  religious 
lessons  to  be  drawn  from  the  history  of  the  American 
Revolution  are  of  greater  practical  importance  to  our- 
selves, and  those  lessons  were  taught  with  startling 
vividness,  and  most  uncompromising  completeness.  The 
thirteen  provinces,  while  still  British  colonies,  had  ex- 
hibited a  picture,  or  rather  a  panorama,  displaying,  —  in 
deeply  contrasted  colours,  and  on  a  scale  large  enough 
for  philosophical  observation,  —  all  conceivable  forms 
and  varieties  of  ecclesiastical  institutions.  The  result 
of  separation  from   the  mother-country  was  to   sweep 

266 


THE   COLONIAL    CHURCHES  267 

away  every  vestige  of  Church  privilege,  and  to  secure 
absolute  and  uniform  religious  equality  the  whole  Union 
over. 

The  Church  of  England  had,  from  the  very  first,  been 
established  as  a  State  Church  in  Virginia  and  in  both 
the  CaroUnas ;  and  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  occu- 
pied the  same  advantageous  position  in  the  Province  of 
New  York.  Those  stern  sectarians  of  the  Northern 
colonies,  who  had  escaped  across  the  seas  from  the 
tyranny  of  others,  indulged  themselves  in  a  rigid  and 
authoritative  system  of  ecclesiastical  government  erected 
on  the  basis  of  Congregationalism.  No  mere  creature 
or  pensioner  of  the  State,  the  Church  was  the  State  it- 
self in  nearly  every  community  of  New  England  ;  but 
not  in  all.  Roger  Williams,  a  graduate  of  Pembroke 
College  at  Cambridge,  was  an  English  Puritan  of  the 
highest  type.  He  emigrated  to  Boston  in  1631,  because 
he  could  not  live  both  honestly  and  safely  within  the 
sweep  of  an  archbishop's  crozier;  and  from  Boston  he 
passed  southward  to  Rhode  Island  in  pursuit  of  the  full 
rehgious  liberty  which  was  denied  to  him  under  the 
theocratical  Constitution  of  Massachusetts.  He  induced 
the  colonists  among  whom  he  fixed  his  home  to  adopt  a 
Resolution  of  infinite  moment,  and  notable  originality. 
"  It  is  much  in  our  hearts,"  (so  they  declared,)  "  to  hold 
forth  a  lively  experiment  that  a  most  flourishing  civil 
State  may  stand,  and  best  be  maintained,  with  a  full 
liberty  of  religious  concernments."  ^  That  utterance, 
—  the  direct  reverse  of  all  previous,  and  then  existing, 
European  behef  and  practice,  whether  in  Roman  Catholic 
or  in  Protestant  countries,  —  was  the  first  announcement 

1  Petition  from  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  to  Charles  the  Second. 
That  King,  to  the  horror  of  some  of  his  hi{,'h  Officers  of  State,  insisted 
that  the  prayer  of  the  petition  should  be  granted. 

At  this  pcjint  in  this  chapter  I  desire,  once  for  all,  to  express  my  obliga- 
tions to  the  Ifistory  of  the  Rise  of  Religious  Liberty  in  America  by  Mr. 
Sandford  II.  Cobb.  That  admirable  book  was  of  all  the  greater  service  to 
me  because,  before  its  publication,  I  had  already  taken  a  strong  interest  in 
the  questions  of  which  it  treats  ;  with  reference  to  which  I  had  collected 
a  large  amount  of  material  from  many,  and  very  diverse,  quarters. 


268  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

of  a  principle  which  the  United  States  of  America  have 
long  ere  this  accepted  in  its  entirety,  and  have  solemnly 
embodied  in  their  Constitution.  The  example  of  Rhode 
Island  was  followed  by  the  founders  of  other  colonies, 
especially  such  as  held  those  forms  of  belief  which  had 
been  most  hotly  persecuted  in  England.  No  State 
Church  was  set  up  in  Maryland,  where  the  Proprietary 
family  was  of  the  Roman  Catholic  persuasion.  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Delaware,  —  at  first  together,  and,  after  a  while, 
apart,  —  carried  on  their  civil  administration  divorced 
from  an  ecclesiastical  establishment;  and  Georgia, 
youngest  of  the  thirteen  colonies,  began  life  under  the 
same  conditions.  Foreigners,  who  visited  America,  saw 
much  that  astonished  and  delighted  them ;  but  the  fea- 
ture which  struck  them  as  the  most  pleasant  and  novel 
was  the  aspect  of  social  existence  in  the  non-denomi- 
national provinces.  In  Philadelphia,  (said  Comte  de 
Segur,)  it  was  not  the  architecture,  and  the  monuments, 
that  most  excited  curiosity  and  commanded  respect. 
The  whole  city  was  a  noble  temple  raised  to  Tolerance, 
in  which  Catholics  and  Presbyterians,  Calvinists  and 
Lutherans,  Anabaptists,  Methodists,  and  Quakers  wor- 
shipped after  their  own  fashion,  and  consorted  one  with 
another  in  peace  and  amity.^ 

Those  ecclesiastical  arrangements  under  which  the 
American  colonies  started  upon  their  career  were  not 
long  permitted  to  continue  undisturbed.  From  a  very 
early  period  statesmen  in  London  were  on  the  watch  to 
impose  an  Anglican  Establishment  upon  one  or  another 
of  those  colonies  which  were  as  yet  without  one,  and  to 
render  existence  everywhere  as  uncomfortable  as  pos- 
sible to  all  except  professed  Episcopalians.  The  oppor- 
tunity of  the  Government  at  home  came  whenever  the 
administrator  on  the  spot  was  a  man  of  decided  clerical 
leanings,  or,  (which  was  quite  as  much  to  the  purpose,) 
of  a  combative  and  masterful  nature  ;  for  it  by  no  means 

1  Memoires  par  M.  Le  Comte  de  Segur,  de  VAcademie  Fran^aise,  Pair 
de  France;  Paris,  1825,  Vol.  I.,  page  362,  De  Segur's  first  sight  of  Phila- 
delphia was  in  1 782. 


THE    COLONIAL    CHURCHES  269 

was  the  case  that  a  Royal  Governor,  or  a  Secretary  of 
State  either,  who  displayed  the  most  abounding  zeal  for 
the  aggrandisement  of  the  Church  was  necessarily  one 
who  lived  in  the  closest  obedience  to  her  rules  of  private 
conduct.  Anglicanism  was  after  a  while  established  in 
Maryland  ;  and  Roman  Catholics  were  excluded  from 
office,  and  forbidden  the  exercise  of  their  religion,  on 
that  very  soil  which  had  been  expressly  granted  and 
colonised  as  a  much-needed  sanctuary  for  the  members 
of  their  faith.  Georgia  was  divided  into  eight  parishes 
with  stipends  for  Anglican  clergy  ;  —  although  Anglican 
laymen  were  so  sparse  and  few  that,  ten  years  afterwards, 
only  two  Episcopal  congregations  could  be  gathered  to- 
gether an^-where  in  the  province.  Lord  Cornbury  vested 
himself  with  ecclesiastical  authority  over  the  whole  of 
New  Jersey,  and  ordained  the  due  performance  of  the 
Anglican  ritual  "  as  by  law  estabUshed,"  at  a  time  when 
the  colony  did  not  possess  a  single  church  of  the  EngHsh 
Communion.  The  Episcopalian  party  was  numerically 
very  feeble  in  the  province  of  New  York,  and  the  author- 
ities did  not  venture  to  apply  for  a  Statute  enacting,  in 
so  many  words,  the  supremacy  of  the  English  Church ; 
but  they  ousted  the  Dutch  Church,  and  replaced  it  by 
an  Establishment  which  undertook  to  provide  each  city 
and  county  with  "  a  good  and  sufficient  Protestant  Min- 
ister." ^  Interpreting  this  definition  in  a  sense  which  it 
most  assuredly  would  not  convey  to  the  ear  of  a  modern 
High  Churchman,  the  Cabinet  in  Downing  Street,  and 
the  Royal  Governor  and  his  council  in  New  York,  thence- 
forward wrote,  spoke,  and  acted  as  if  the  Church  of 
England  had  been  duly  and  legally  enthroned  in  the 
colony. 

'  Only  six  years  before  the  Act  was  passed,  a  Governor  of  New  York 
reported  on  the  religious  condition  of  that  colony  in  vigorous,  and  not 
very  official,  language.  "  Here  bee  not  many  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
few  Roman  Catholics  ;  abundance  of  Quaker  preachers,  —  men,  and 
women  especially  ;  singing  Quakers  ;  ranting  Quakers  ;  Sabbatarians  ; 
Anti-Sabbatarians  ;  some  Anabaptists  ;  some  Independents  ;  some  Jews. 
In  short,  of  all  opinions  there  are  some,  and  the  most  part  of  none  at  all. 
The  most  prevailing  opinion  is  that  of  the  Dutcli  Calvinists." 


270  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

The  early  history  of  all  those  American  communi- 
ties, in  which  any  form  of  religion  whatsoever  had  been 
established  by  law,  bore  deep  imprints  of  a  fierce  and 
narrow  bigotry.  Nothing  else  could  be  expected  from 
men  who  had  been  nurtured  in  the  old-world  theory 
that  it  was  the  sacred  duty  of  rulers  to  choose  a  religion 
for  the  people,  and  to  extirpate  heresy.  No  one  except 
a  Congregationahst  could  be  a  freeman  of  Massachu- 
setts. No  Roman  Catholic  was  suffered  to  abide  within 
the  borders  of  the  colony.  Baptists  were  fined,  flogged, 
and  imprisoned  ;  and  some  of  the  early  Quaker  fanatics, 
both  men  and  women,  who  courted  death  and  bonds 
with  persistent  importunity,  were  barbarously  martyred. 
King  Charles  the  Second  earnestly  and  repeatedly  en- 
deavoured to  secure  liberty  of  religion  for  members 
of  that  English  Church  of  which  he  himself  was  the 
Head,  and  was  encountered  by  the  Independents  of 
Massachusetts  with  a  respectful  but  inflexible  refusal. 
They  reminded  His  Majesty  that  they  were  voluntary 
exiles  from  their  dear  native  country  because  they  could 
not  read  the  Word  of  God  as  warranting  the  use  of  the 
Common  Prayer  Book ;  and  to  have  the  same  set  up  in 
America,  (so  their  quaint  phraseology  ran,)  "would  dis- 
turb their  peace  in  their  present  enjoyments."  Bad 
things  were  done  in  those  old  days,  and  cruel-minded 
sermons  were  preached  and  applauded ;  but,  as  time 
went  on,  the  tendency  of  opinion  throughout  New 
England  was  in  the  direction  first  of  toleration,  and 
then  of  religious  equality.  Generations  grew  up  in  an 
atmosphere  of  responsible  self-government,  and  widely 
diffused  popular  education.  The  sons  of  the  men  who 
had  sent  Quakers  to  execution  already  condemned  the 
deed  ;  and  Boston  has  been  repenting  of  it  ever  since, 
in  prose  and  verse,  with  an  emphasis  and  unanimity  of 
remorse  the  like  of  which  has  been  known  in  no  other 
community.  Clerical  opinion  lagged  somewhat  in  the 
rear ;  but  the  clergy  of  the  Northern  colonies  could 
not  afford  to  be  left  far  behind  laymen  in  the  march 
of   humanity.     They    were   not   priests,   invested   with 


THE   COLONIAL    CHURCHES  27 1 

sacerdotal  attributes  and  authority ;  but  teachers,  whose 
influence  depended  upon  their  ability  to  convince  the 
intellect,  and  hold  the  confidence,  of  their  hearers.  As 
early  as  1691  the  full  right  of  citizenship,  and  the  free 
exercise  of  public  worship,  had  been  extended  to  all 
Christians,  with  the  exception  of  Roman  Catholics ;  and, 
forty  years  later  on,  it  was  enacted  that  the  taxes  for 
religious  objects,  which  had  been  collected  from  Episco- 
palian householders,  should  be  handed  over  to  their  own 
Episcopalian  minister,  if  there  was  one  within  five  miles 
whose  services  they  attended.  That  was  the  Five  Mile 
Act  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  The  EngHsh 
law  which  bore  the  same  name  was  an  ordinance  for- 
bidding a  Nonconformist  clergyman  to  show  his  face 
within  five  miles  of  any  corporate  city  or  borough.  In 
1775,  when  the  American  Revolution  broke  out,  that 
Act  still  remained  in  our  Statute-book ;  nor  had  it  yet 
become  a  dead  letter.^ 

Any  progress,  which  was  made  towards  religious 
liberty  in  those  colonies  where  Anglicanism  had  been 
established,  owed  less  than  nothing  to  the  clergy  of  the 
official  Church,  or  to  Royal  Governors  who  had  the 
supposed  interests  of  that  Church  in  their  keeping.  In 
the  province  of  New  York,  under  the  rule  of  Lord  Corn- 
bury,  places  of  worship,  and  religious  endowments,  — 
sometimes  by  chicanery,  and  sometimes  by  arbitrary 
violence, —  were  wrested  from  Presbyterians  or  Inde- 
pendents, and  handed  over  to  Episcopalians.  Nearly 
half-way  through  the  eighteenth  century,  in  the  same 
province,  Moravian  missionaries,  the  most  innocent  and 
guileless  of  mankind,  were  proscribed  and  persecuted  on 
the  pretext  that  they  were  Popish  emissaries  with  designs 
against  His  Majesty's  Government.  And  even  as  late  as 
1768,  —  when  the  country  was  ablaze  with  the  agitation 
against  the  tea-duty,  — -the  Virginian  clergy  contrived  to 
get  three  Baptists  into  gaol  for  the  crime  of  having  re- 

1  The  Kentish  Justices  put  the  Five  Mile  Act  in  force  against  Wcsleyan 
preachers  thirty  years  after  Methodism  had  become  a  living  power  in 
England. 


272 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


fused  to  discontinue  preaching.^  There  have  been  periods 
in  the  history  of  nations  when  intolerance  has  been  dig- 
nified by  the  intense  religious  conviction,  and  the  pure, 
ascetic,  morals  of  a  dominant  priesthood ;  but  such  was 
not  the  case  in  the  Southern  colonies,  and  least  of  all  in 
Virginia.  The  desirable  gifts  and  graces  were  often 
sadly  lacking  in  clergymen  who  had  been  exported  from 
England  to  serve  the  parishes  in  that  province.  "As  to 
other  commodities,  so  of  this,  the  worst  are  sent  us ;  and 
we  had  few,  that  we  could  boast  of,  since  the  persecution 
in  Cromwell's  tyranny  drove  divers  worthy  men  hither." 
That  was  written  by  a  Royal  Governor  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Second ;  and  a  very  perceptible  change  for 
the  better  never  took  place  in  the  character  of  the  Virgin- 
ian incumbents  until  the  Church,  disestablished  and  disen- 
dowed, was  at  last  thrown  back  upon  her  own  resources. 
There  was  no  bishop,  within  a  distance  of  three  thou- 
sand miles,  to  encourage  and  promote  the  worthy,  or  to 
admonish  and  chastise  the  reprobate ;  and  the  Anglican 
clergy  of  the  Southern  plantations,  without  a  director 
above  them,  were  not  a  law  to  themselves.  Abandoned 
to  their  own  guidance  and  discretion  in  parishes  some- 
times as  large  as  an  English  county,  they  frequently 
succumbed  to  the  temptations  prevalent  in  a  loosely, 
and,  (so  far  as  slavery  was  concerned,)  a  viciously  organ- 
ised society.  In  one  respect  they  were  singularly 
unfortunate.  The  boon  companions  with  whom  they 
consorted,  the  Presbyterian  neighbours  who  had  to  pay 
their  stipends  without  attending  their  ministrations,  and 
the  church-goers  who  listened  to  their  ill-read  prayers 
and  short  and  slovenly  discourses,^  belonged  to  a  race 

1  In  one  case  Patrick  Henry  "  offered  his  services  to  defend  the  poor 
preachers,  and  tradition  has  it  that  he  rode  fifty  miles  to  do  so.  In  his 
speech  he  so  dwelt  upon  the  folly  and  wickedness  of  attempting  to  punish 
a  man  for  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  he  overwhelmed 
the  court,  and  secured  the  immediate  discharge  of  his  client."  In  1770  two 
other  Baptists  were  thrown  into  Chesterfield  County  gaol,  and  there  "they 
did  much  execution  by  preaching  through  the  grates  of  their  windows." 
History  of  Religious  Liberty  ;  chapter  iv.,  section  i. 

2  Josiah  Quincy,  —  accustomed  as  he  was  to  New  England  sermons 
closely  reasoned,  and  divided  into  many  heads,  —  during  a  visit  to  the 


THE    COLONIAL    CHURCHES  2/3 

largely  endowed  with  caustic  humour.  It  would  be  easy 
to  compile,  and  perhaps  not  difficult  to  read,  a  chapter 
full  of  racy  anecdotes  and  pungent  sayings  which  bear 
upon  these  ancient  clerical  scandals ;  but  the  truth  about 
the  Southern  clergy  may  with  greater  propriety  be  left 
to  the  sorrowing  testimony  of  the  best  among  their  own 
number.  Reports  sent  to  the  Bishop  of  London  by  his 
Commissaries  in  America,  — who  were  carefully  selected 
for  that  office  on  account  of  their  talents  and  virtues, 
but  who  had  no  powers  to  restrain  or  punish  their  erring 
brethren,  —  tell  a  most  deplorable  story  from  first  to 
last.  Their  statements  were  confirmed,  and  their  con- 
clusions summed  up,  by  a  favourably  disposed  and 
sympathetic  spectator  who  watched  the  Episcopal  Es- 
tablishment from  without.  James  Pemberton,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  of  Friends,  —  an  excellent  man,  and 
a  very  strong  Loyalist,  —  wrote  in  1766  that  the  vast 
increase  of  Presbyterians  in  America  was  due  to  the 
neglect  of  the  rulers  of  the  Church  of  England,  who, 
to  the  dishonour  of  their  profession,  had  little  regard  for 
the  morals  of  the  persons  that  they  appointed  to  the 
office  of  clergyman. 1 

This  relaxation  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  was  not 
the  only,  nor  the  greatest,  evil  inflicted  upon  the  Church 
of  England  in  America  by  the  want  of  resident  bishops. 
No  native-born  colonist  could  be  ordained  without  in- 
curring the  indefinite  delays,  and  unspeakable  discom- 
forts, of  a  sea  journey  replete  with  perils  which  would 
be  incredible  to  our  generation  if  the  record  of  them 
did  not  rest  upon  incontrovertible  evidence.     Of  three 

South  in  1774  heard  "a  youno;  coxcomb  preach  flippantly  for  seventeen 
and  a  half  minutes  "  in  a  Charleston  pulpit. 

1  The  letter  is  quoted  by  President  Isaac  Sharpless,  in  his  History  of 
Quaker  Government  in  Pennsylvania.  An  account  of  the  Bishop's  Com- 
missaries, and  their  Reports,  may  be  found  in  a  paper  by  Mr.  Edward 
Eggleston,  in  the  Century  Magazine  for  May  1S88.  Mr.  Sandford  Cobb, 
in  the  second  section  of  his  sixth  chapter,  relates  how  the  letters  written 
by  good  American  clergymen  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel,  and  to  the  Pishop  of  London,  abounded  in  references  to  the  bad 
lives  of  many  among  their  colleagues,  and  to  the  terribly  disastrous  influ- 
ence on  the  repute  and  efficacy  of  the  Church. 


274 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


candidates  for  ordination,  sent  to  Europe  from  Hebron 
in  Connecticut,  one  perished  on  the  return  voyage ;  a 
second  died  on  ship-board ;  while  the  third  was  taken 
by  a  hostile  vessel,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  a 
French  prison.  Doctor  Johnson,  a  citizen  of  the  same 
province,  a  man  of  saintly  life  who  had  left  the  Inde- 
pendents to  become  an  Episcopalian  minister,  lost  a 
son  who  had  sailed  for  England  on  the  same  errand. 
This,  (said  the  bereaved  father,)  was  the  seventh  pre- 
cious life  which  had  been  sacrificed ;  most  of  them  the 
flower  of  their  country.^  Such  was  indeed  the  case; 
for  American  youths  who,  in  the  face  of  immense  dis- 
advantages and  discouragements,  dedicated  themselves 
to  the  service  of  the  Church  of  England,  were  mostly 
respectable,  and  sometimes  eminent,  in  charactei  and 
attainments.  But  the  difficulties  of  communication  be- 
tween the  colonies  and  the  mother-country  were,  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  prohibitive.  The  Church  in  the 
Southern  colonies  was  mainly  suppHed  from  across  the 
ocean ;  and  clerical  emigrants,  who  found  their  way  to 
those  regions,  were  very  generally  the  failures  of  Eng- 
lish universities,  or  Scotch  and  Irish  adventurers  who 
sought  an  escape  from  the  despised  and  miserable  lot 
of  the  usher  in  an  eighteenth-century  academy.  The 
daily  life  in  a  tobacco-parish  contained  no  element  of 
that  missionary  work  which  has  an  attraction  for  men 
of  high  and  enthusiastic  spirit ;  from  a  very  early  date 
it  had  been  well  ascertained  by  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
Bachelors  of  Arts  that  a  curate  in  England  had  more 
considerable  worldly  prospects  than  a  Virginian  rector 
and  archdeacon ;  ^  and  those  prospects,  far  from  im- 
proving, grew  poorer  as  time  advanced,  and  as  the 
esteem  and  affection  of  the  Provincials  became  estranged 
from  their  established  clergy. 

That   clergy   was    remunerated  in  kind,  and   not   in 

1  At  a  later  period,  according  to  Doctor  Johnson,  ten  had  been  lost, 
out  of  fifty-four  who  had  gone  for  ordination. 

2  Letter   from   Morgan  Godwyn  to  Governor  Berkeley,  written  about 
the  year  1670. 


THE    COLONIAL    CHURCHES 


275 


money.  Maryland  gave  an  incumbent  forty  pounds  of 
tobacco  for  every  tithe-payer  in  the  Parish,  whether 
Churchman  or  Dissenter,  white  or  coloured ;  and  the 
terms  were  handsome  enough  to  secure  the  pick  of 
the  clerical  market.^  In  Virginia  the  stipends  repre- 
sented a  fixed  and  unvarying  quantity,  by  weight,  of 
the  manufactured  leaf ;  and  those  stipends,  for  long 
periods  together,  were  wretched  pittances.  In  a  bad 
year  even  the  "  sweet-scented  parishes,"  where  the 
minister's  salary  was  calculated  on  a  high-priced  and 
exceptionally  fragrant  tobacco,  yielded  only  about  a 
hundred  pounds  sterling ;  and  the  parishioners  some- 
times refused  to  induct  a  clergyman  unless  he  would 
consent  to  take  one  salary  for  serving  two  parishes. 
In  1758,  when  the  price  of  the  staple  had  greatly  risen, 
and  a  church-living  had  become  a  reasonable  mainten- 
ance for  an  incumbent  and  his  family,  the  House  of 
Burgesses  passed  a  law  fixing  the  cash  equivalent  of 
debts  payable  in  tobacco  at  one-third  of  their  true  and 
honest  commercial  value.  This  piece  of  legislation, 
while  it  did  not  injuriously  affect  a  single  lay  creditor, 
struck  two-thirds  from  the  emoluments  of  every  clergy- 
man in  the  province ;  and  that  was  the  sole  object  with 
which  it  had  been  devised.  The  law  was  invalid,  for 
the  King  in  Council  withheld  his  sanction ;  but  the 
Virginian  vestries  at  once  proceeded  to  act  upon  it  as 
though  it  were  a  part  of  the  Constitution.  The  contro- 
versy was  brought  into  Court ;  and  a  test  case  was 
tried,  involving  a  claim  on  the  part  of  a  Rector  for 
many  hundred  pounds  of  unpaid  salary.  The  point  of 
law  was  given  in  his  favour;  for  no  tribunal  in  the 
universe  could  have  decided  otherwise.  A  jury  was 
summoned  to  arbitrate  on  the  amount  that  was  due  to 
the  plaintiff ;  and  Patrick  Henry  appeared  on  behalf  of 
the  vestrymen.  He  rose  to  his  feet  an  obscure  country 
lawyer,  and  sat  down  after  a  speech  which  made  him 

^  One  Maryland  parish  was  said  to  be  worth  a  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling a  year.  In  1757  Edmund  Burke  praised  the  clergy  of  the  colony  as 
"the  most  decent,  and  the  best,  in  North  America." 

T2 


276  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

the  most  celebrated  of  American  orators.  Amid  a 
tornado  of  popular  effervescence  and  exhilaration  the 
jury  assessed  the  damages  at  one  penny;  and  the 
clergy  had  no  choice  but  to  accept  that  outrageous 
verdict  as  the  death-blow  to  their  cause. 

It  was  a  shabby  policy,  and  a  shuffling  step  in  the 
direction  of  religious  equality,  unworthy  of  the  reputa- 
tion for  chivalry  and  generosity  which  had  attached 
itself  to  the  Old  Dominion.  None  the  less  was  that 
scene  in  Hanover  Court  House  a  striking  and  signifi- 
cant contrast  to  some  former  chapters  in  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal history  of  Virginia.  The  first  set  of  emigrants,  in 
1606,  made  careful  provision  for  the  dignity  and  com- 
fort of  those  Episcopalian  ministers  who  accompanied 
them  from  home.  In  imitation  of  the  example,  and  in 
obedience  to  the  specific  behests,  of  Archbishop  Laud, 
the  authorities  of  the  colony  harried  and  persecuted  the 
Puritans,  and,  —  with  perverted  but  indomitable  cour- 
age, —  continued  to  persecute  them  long  after  Naseby 
and  Marston  Moor  had  made  Puritanism  triumphant 
and  all-powerful  in  the  mother-country.  Under  the 
Commonwealth  those  English  gentry  and  clergy,  who 
had  suffered  for  Church  and  King,  found  a  hospitable 
asylum  in  Virginia;  and,  after  the  Restoration,  the 
House  of  Burgesses  at  WiUiamsburg  vied  with  the 
Cavalier  Parhament  at  Westminster  in  the  severities 
which  it  inflicted  upon  sectaries  and  recusants.  The 
Tobacco  Act  of  1758, — as  compared  with  the  penal 
statutes  framed  in  defence  of  Anglicanism  by  the 
Virginian  Assembly  in  1661  and  1662,  —  affords  an 
accurate  measure  of  the  sweeping  change  wrought  by 
a  century's  experience  of  a  State  establishment  in  the 
feelings  and  inclinations  of  a  community  which  once 
was  the  most  Church-loving  of  all  our  colonies.^ 

The  Episcopalian  clergy  in  the  Northern  provinces, 
and   more    especially   in    Connecticut,    were   sincerely 

1  Instances  of  the  signal  power  and  popularity  enjoyed  in  Virginia  by 
the  Church  of  England,  during  the  first  three-quarters  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  are  given  in  the  Third  Appendix  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 


THE   COLONIAL    CHURCHES  2/7 

religious,  unimpeachable  in  character,  and  of  high 
intellectual  quality.  Their  material  circumstances  were 
prosperous ;  and  their  social  position  ranked  as  among 
the  very  best  in  the  land.  As  far  back  as  the  year 
1727  both  of  the  great  colonies  in  which  Congregation- 
alism was  the  State  religion,  —  holding  out  an  exam- 
ple of  equity,  and  right  feeling,  to  all  other  estabhshed 
and  endowed  churches,  —  had  allotted  to  the  Episco- 
palian minister  that  portion  of  the  tithe  which  was 
contributed  by  members  of  his  own  flock.  The  Statute 
went  by  a  name  unmelodious  to  the  ears  of  a  suscep- 
tible Anglican;  for  it  was  called  "An  Act  for  the 
Ease  of  such  as  soberly  Dissent ; "  but  everything 
about  it,  except  the  title,  was  much  to  the  taste,  and  ex- 
ceedingly to  the  profit,  of  the  EpiscopaHan  Church, 
which  included  among  its  adherents  many  of  the 
largest  tithe-payers.  To  the  Church  of  England,  (wrote 
Judge  Jones,)  belonged  the  Governor,  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  a  majority  of  His  Majesty's  Council,  many 
members  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  all  the  officers 
of  Government,  with  a  numerous  train  of  rich  and  affluent 
merchants  and  land-owners.  That  was  the  condition 
of  things  in  New  York ;  nor  was  it  otherwise  in  New 
England.  The  Episcopalian  clergy  of  Massachusetts 
had  lived  as  youths  in  close  comradeship  with  those, 
who  later  on  in  life  became  their  leading  parishioners, 
in  the  refined  and  rather  aristocratic  atmosphere  of 
Harvard  College ;  where,  before  the  Revolution,  the 
place  of  a  student  in  the  class  was  determined,  not  by 
his  own  proficiency  in  learning,  but  by  the  rank  of  his 
father,  and  the  importance  of  his  family.  The  clergy 
of  Connecticut  were  mostly  educated  at  Yale;  and  in 
both  colonies  the  candidates  for  Anglican  orders  had 
used  their  academical  opportunities  with  profit.  Sound 
divines,  fair  scholars,  and  thoughtful  preachers,  they 
became  conspicuous  for  propriety  of  behaviour  among 
a  society  where  people  were  in  the  habit  of  judging 
themselves  and  their  neighbours  by  a  very  strict  and 
precise    standard.     Such    ministers  as  Doctor    Edward 


278 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


Bass,  afterwards  the  first  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  oi 
John  Tyler  and  Roger  Viets  of  Connecticut,  would  have 
done  honour  to  any  Church  in  the  world  during  the 
best  period  of  its  corporate  existence.^ 

^  While  the  Episcopalian  clergy  of  Virginia  were  dis- 
credited and  disliked,  those   in  the   Northern  colonies 
were  respected,  but  feared  ;  for  the  attitude  of  English 
Churchmen,  towards  all  Americans  who  did  not  belong 
to  their  body,  was   in  a  marked  degree  ominous  and 
menacing.    Jurisdiction  over  the  Colonial  Church  rested 
with  the  Bishop  of  London  for  the  time  being ;  and  the 
charge  was  a  disagreeable  and  embarrassing  supplement 
to  his  home  duties.     "  Sure  I  am,"  wrote  one  holder  of 
that  lofty  function,  "  that  the  care  is  improperly  lodged. 
For  a  Bishop  to  live  at  one  end  of  the  world,  and  his 
Church  at  the  other,  must  make  the  office  very  uncom- 
fortable to  the  Bishop,  and  in  a  great  measure  useless 
to  the  people."  2    The  majority  of  that  people,  however, 
would  have  derived  small  comfort  or  assistance  from 
the   presence  of    a   Father  of  the   Church   within  the 
borders  of  their  colony.     In  1771  a  Bishop  of  London 
told  a  Secretary  of  State,  plainly  and  roundly,  that  he 
could  not  think  of  accepting  a  position  as  trustee  of  a 
local  institution  in   America  if   his  colleagues  in  that 
office  were  what  he  was  pleased  to  style  "  Dissenters."^ 
Those   Dissenters  numbered   considerably   over  ninety 
per  cent,  of   the  population  resident  in  the  province. 
Among  them  were  the  Congregationalists,  who  belonged 
to  a  Church  that  had  been  established  by  law,  which  in 
Massachusetts  the  Church  of   England  was  not;   but 
the  bench  of  bishops  arbitrarily  assumed,  and  openly 

1  Judge  Jones  speaks  of  Yale  College  as  remarkable  for  its  republican 
principles,  its  intolerance  in  religion,  and  its  utter  aversion  to  Bisliops 
and  Kings.  Nevertheless  Mr.  Tyler,  and  Mr.  Viets,  had  taken  degrees 
there,  as  well  as  others  among  the  Loyalist  clergy  of  Connecticut.  The 
Church  of  England  in  that  colony  was  practically  founded  in  1722  by  six 
Congregationalists  who  all  became  Episcopalians  together;  and  one  of 
their  number   was  the  President  of  Yale  himself. 

2  The  Bishop  of  London  to  Doctor  Doddridge,  in  the  year  1751. 

3  Ric.  London  to  Lord  Dartmouth  ;   Fulham,  July  9,  1 77 1. 


THE    COLONIAL    CHURCHES  279 

maintained,  that  any  State  Church,  besides  their  own, 
was  an  imposture  and  a  nuUity,  and  that  the  levying  of 
tithes  by  such  a  Church  was  a  flagrant  act  of  spohation. 
A  famous  prelate  complained  bitterly  from  the  pulpit 
that  Episcopalians  in  New  England  were  rated  for 
the  support  of  what  the  Independents,  —  who  were,  (so 
he  frankly  admitted,)  the  greater  part  of  that  people, 
—  called,  though  without  any  right,  the  Established 
Church. 1  In  the  year  1725  the  Congregational  clergy 
had  asked  leave  to  hold  a  Synod  in  order  to  consult 
about  measures  for  confirming  and  quickening  the  faith 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 
When  the  expression  of  their  desire  reached  London, 
the  Cabinet,  indoctrinated  by  London's  bishop,  angrily 
rejected  the  proposal  on  the  ground  that  it  would  form 
"a  bad  precedent  for  Dissenters."  At  that  time  the 
capital  of  Massachusetts  contained  a  solitary  English 
church,  which  was  as  much  a  Nonconformist  place  of 
worship  as  Doctor  Doddridge's  chapel  at  Northampton, 
or  Doctor  Lardner's  lecture-hall  in  the  Old  Jewry.  "  In 
the  English  view,"  (it  has  been  aptly  said,)  "the  allow- 
ance of  one  Episcopal  church  in  Boston  turned  the 
Established  Church  of  Massachusetts  into  a  congrega- 
tion of  Dissenters."^ 

The  Episcopal  Church,  at  home  and  abroad,  owed 
much  to  a  man  whose  inspiriting  influence,  and  rare 
practical  talent,  have  earned  him  a  place  among  the 

1  Sermon  preached  by  Bishop  Seeker  before  the  Propagation  Society 
in  the  Parish  Church  of  .St.  Mary-le-Bow,  February  20,  1 740-1. 

"^History  of  Rdigious  Liberty;  chapter  v.,  section  ii.  A  powerful 
letter,  written  by  John  Adams  in  I  Si  5,  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the 
state  of  religion  throughout  America  anterior  to  1775,  and  explains  its 
intimate  relation  to  the  events  of  the  Revolution.  With  regard  to  Massa- 
chusetts he  notices  "  the  spirit,  the  temper,  the  views,  designs,  intrigues, 
and  arbitrary  exertions  of  power  displayed  by  the  Church  of  England  at 
that  time  towards  the  Dissenters,  as  they  were  contemjjtuously  called, 
though  in  reality  the  Churchmen  were  the  real  Dissenters.  .  .  .  The  truth 
is  that  the  Congregationalists,  the  Presbyterians,  the  Anabaptists,  the 
Methodists,  or  even  the  Quakers  or  Moravians,  'were  each  of  them  as 
numerous  as  the  Churchmen  ;  several  of  them  immensely  more  numerous ; 
and  all  of  them  together  more  than  fifteen  to  one." 


28Q  ^^^  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

great  religious  organisers  of  the  world.  Towards  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  Doctor  Thomas 
Bray,  —  shocked  and  saddened  by  the  stories  of  spiritual 
destitution,  and  clerical  inefficiency,  which  arrived  from 
across  the  ocean,  —  declined  the  offer  of  valuable  bene- 
fices in  England,  sold  all  the  goods  that  he  possessed 
there,  and  sailed  for  America  invested  with  the  thank- 
less office  of  Commissary  to  the  Bishop  of  London  in 
Maryland.  Bray's  services  to  the  Church  of  his  devo- 
tion extended  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  colony 
to  which  he  was  accredited ;  for  he  conceived  the  idea, 
and  designed  and  constructed  the  machinery,  of  the 
Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  and  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  m  Foreign 
Parts.  Those  sagacious  and  earnest  men,  who  guided 
the  counsels  and  disbursed  the  resources  of  the  last- 
named  Association,  laboured  successfully  to  infuse 
vigour  and  purity  into  the  Episcopahan  Churches  of 
America.!  xhe  rise  and  spread  of  Anglicanism  in 
Connecticut  was  due  to  their  inspiration.  Their  mis- 
sionaries, —  chosen  with  care  and  on  the  spot,  —  ex- 
hibited an  example  which  awakened  the  conscience,  and 
stirred  the  zeal,  of  the  better-intentioned  among  the 
parish  clergy  of  the  Southern  provinces,  and  shamed 
the  undeserving  into  decency  of  conduct;  and  their 
agents  were  the  first  to  undertake,  in  any  systematic 
way,  the  religious  and  the  secular  instruction  of  negro 
slaves.  But  this  excellent  corporation,  under  another 
aspect,  was  not  blameless.  Some  of  their  clerical 
emissaries  refused  to  work  with,  and  not  unfrequently 
or  unwillingly  worked  against,  those  other  religious 
denominations  which  already  covered  so  large  a  field 
in  the  American  colonies;  and,  above  all,  the  annual 
meeting  of   the    Society  in    London  was   an    occasion 

1  A  leUer  to  the  Propagation  Society,  despatched  in  1705,  deplores  the 
hostility  evinced  towards  the  English  Church  by  the  Puritans  of  Massa- 
chusetts. "They  fail  not  to  improve  every  little  thing  against  us.  But, 
(I  bless  God  for  it,)  the  Society  have  robbed  them  of  their  best  argument, 
which  was  the  ill  lives  of  our  clergy  that  came  into  these  parts.  And,  the 
truth  is,  I  have  not  seen  many  good  men  but  of  the  Society's  sending." 


THE    COLONIAL    CHURCHES  28 1 

when  Christianity  did  not  habitually  display  a  gracious 
and  inviting  countenance.  The  central  event  of  these 
periodical  gatherings  consisted  in  a  sermon  from  a 
bishop,  who  too  often  consumed  much  of  his  time,  and 
almost  all  of  his  fervour  and  unction,  in  contending 
that  no  Gospel  ought  to  be  propagated  except  that 
which  was  taught  by  Anglican  divines.  Sometimes  the 
preacher  broadly  and  bluntly  animadverted  upon  the 
doctrinal  tenets  and  political  tendencies  of  those  whom, 
before  that  audience,  he  boldly  and  safely  characterised 
as  "the  American  Nonconformists;"  but  these  direct 
attacks  were  less  irritating,  and  incomparably  less 
alarming,  to  New  England  public  opinion  than  were 
the  studied  reticences  of  abler  and  more  artful  orators. 
A  favourite  method  with  the  preacher  of  the  Anniver- 
sary Discourse  was  to  represent  the  whole  American 
community,  outside  the  circuit  of  the  Anglican  Church, 
as  unbroken  ground  for  religious  propagandism  and 
missionary  enterprise ;  to  describe  the  settlers  as  having 
relapsed  into  a  condition  of  heathendom  ever  since  they 
had  deserted  the  ritual  of  their  forefathers ;  and  coldly, 
calmly,  and  deliberately  to  ignore  the  ecclesiastical 
existence  of  those  Presbyterians,  Independents,  and 
Baptists  who  constituted  the  vast  majority  of  the 
colonial  population. 

Such  a  sermon,  never  forgotten  or  pardoned  by  those 
against  whom  its  implied  censures  were  aimed,  was  de- 
livered by  Seeker,  then  Bishop  of  Oxford,  in  the  year 
1742.  A  notable  passage  in  that  discourse  solemnly 
lamented  that  many  of  the  early  emigrants  to  America 
carried  but  little  of  Christianity  abroad  with  them,  while 
a  great  part  of  the  rest  had  suffered  it  to  wear  out  gradu- 
ally, until  in  some  provinces  there  were  scarce  any  foot- 
steps of  it  left  beyond  the  mere  name.  In  those  districts 
no  religious  assembly  was  held  ;  the  Lord's  day  was 
distinguished  from  the  remainder  of  the  week  only  by 
more  unbridled  indulgence  in  vice  and  dissipation  ;  and 
the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  had  not  been  administered 
for  near  twenty  years,  nor  that  of  the  Lord's  Supper  for 


282  THE  AMEKICAiV  REVOLUTION 

fifty.  Such,  (ejaculated  the  bishop,)  was  the  state  of 
things  in  more  of  our  colonies  than  one ;  and,  "  where 
it  was  a  little  better,  it  was  lamentably  bad."  The  ser- 
mon was  published  in  America,  and  read,  —  with  what 
feelings  and  faces  it  is  not  hard  to  imagine,  —  by  the 
Deacon  and  the  Elders  in  many  a  strictly  ordered  New 
Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  parish.  The  same  line 
of  unwarranted  assertion,  and  uncharitable  insinuation, 
was  adopted  by  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester  in  1766,  and 
by  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff  in  i  "jGy.  That  was  a  time  when 
the  friendship  between  America  and  Great  Britain  had 
already,  from  other  causes,  been  so  seriously  disturbed 
that  a  true  patriot,  (not  to  say  a  good  Christian,)  should 
have  been  scrupulously  watchful  to  guard  and  moderate 
his  utterances. 

Regularly  as  the  year  came  round,  the  leaders  of  the 
principal  Churches  in  America  protested,  before  Heaven 
and  man,  against  the  injustice  of  denouncing  their  nation 
as,  in  the  main,  a  depraved  and  unbelieving  people. 
Doctor  Chauncey  of  Boston  eloquently  complained  that 
the  colonists  were  accused  of  having  abandoned  their 
native  religion  together  with  their  parent  soil,  and  of 
living  without  remembrance  or  knowledge  of  God,  with- 
out any  Divine  worship,  in  dissolute  wickedness  and  the 
most  brutal  profligacy  of  manners.  They  had  some- 
times, (wrote  the  Doctor,)  been  blamed  for  having  too 
much  religion ;  but  never,  except  by  English  prelates, 
for  having  no  religion  at  all.^  Men  recalled  to  each 
other's  memory  how  Archbishop  Laud,  in  a  well-known 
phrase,  had  declared  that  he  "could find  no  rehgion"  in 

1  "  A  letter  to  a  Friend,  containing  Remarks  on  certain  Passages  in  a 
Sermon,  preached  by  the  Right  Rev''.  John  Bishop  of  Llandaff,  before  the 
Incorporated  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts, 
at  the  Anniversary  Meeting  in  the  Parish  Church  of  St.  Mary  le  Bow, 
London,  Feb.  20,  1767  ;  in  which  the  highest  Reproach  is  undeservedly 
cast  upon  the  American  Colonies.  By  Charles  Chauncey,  D.D.,  Pastor 
of  the  First  Church  of  Christ  in  Boston."  As  also  "  A  Letter  to  the  Right 
Reverend  Father  in  God,  John  Lord  Bishop  of  Llandaff;  occasioned  by 
some  Passages  in  his  Lordship's  Sermon,  in  which  the  American  Colonies 
are  loaded  with  great  and  undeserved  Reproach  ;  by  William  Livingston 
of  New  York." 


THE  BISHOP   QUESTION  IN  AMERICA  283 

Scotland,  —  at  a  period  in  history  when,  in  the  country 
which  had  produced  John  Knox  and  Andrew  Melville, 
it  was  difficult  for  an  unprejudiced  observer  to  find 
anything  else.  Hardly  less  disdainful,  on  the  eve  of  the 
Revolution  in  America,  was  the  behaviour  of  EngHsh 
bishops  towards  every  Church  on  that  continent  save 
and  except  their  own.  They  were  actuated,  (so  Congre- 
gationalists  and  Presbyterians  sincerely  believed,)  by 
Laud's  spirit;  and,  if  ever  they  had  the  power  and  the 
opportunity,  they  would  be  only  too  eager  to  revive 
Laud's  policy. 

These  mutual  jealousies  and  suspicions  had  long  ago 
been  concentrated  over  the  question  of  planting  a  bishop 
in  America.  The  suggestion  was  heartily  favoured  by 
Churchmen  in  every  colony  abroad,  and  in  the  palace  of 
every  diocese  in  England.  Archbishop  Tenison,  and 
Sir  John  Trelawney  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  had  left 
a  thousand  pounds  apiece  towards  the  foundation  and 
equipment  of  a  Transatlantic  see.  Seeker  bequeathed  a 
like  sum  ;  and  a  substantial  legacy  was  devised  by  a 
Lady  of  great  family,  who  yet  was  "  incomparably  more 
eminent  for  her  Virtues  than  her  Quality."  In  the  year 
1697  a  worthy  Virginian  divine  exclaimed  that,  on  the 
day  when  a  Bishop  landed  in  America,  he  would  say, 
with  Saint  Bernard  in  his  Epistle,  that  the  finger  of  (iod 
was  in  it.  Commissary  Bray  of  Maryland,  and  Commis- 
sary Blair  of  Virginia,  —  who  were  the  mainstay  and 
ornament  of  the  Anglican  Church  in  their  respective 
provinces,  —  had  been  instant  with  the  Government  at 
home  to  take  steps  for  making  Episcopacy  in  America 
a  living  reality ;  and  their  clerical  colleagues  and  suc- 
cessors were  universally  of  the  same  mind.  The  cry 
was  swelled  by  the  voices  of  lay  partisans,  some  of  whom 
did  not  know  the  difference  between  Presbyterians  and 
Congregationalists,  but  who  abominated  both  sects 
equally  on  account  of  the  length  of  their  sermons,  the 
soberness  of  their  manners,  and  the  severity  of  their 
morals.      In     that    way     of     thinking    was    Alexander 


284  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Macrabie,  the  brother-in-law  and  correspondent  of  Philip 
Francis.  "Oh!  Do  let  us  have  a  bishop!"  (Macrabie 
wrote  in  1769).  "Our  clergy  are  quarrelling  like  dog 
and  bear;  and  I  fear  the  Presbytery  get  the  better." 
"  The  Presbyterians,"  he  said  elsewhere,  "  should  not  be 
allowed  to  become  too  great.  They  are  of  republican 
principles.     The  Bostonians  are  Presbyterians."  ^ 

Anglicans,  —  good  men,  or  less  good,  ahke,  —  were 
for  the  appointment  of  a  bishop  ;  but  that  proposal  was 
keenly  resented  by  the  mass  of  the  American  people. 
The  colonists  had  no  desire  to  oppress  or  starve  the 
English  Church  within  their  borders,  as  the  adoption  of 
the  Five  Mile  Act  by  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
unanswerably  proved.  Nor  had  they  in  principle  any 
objection  to  a  bishop  as  the  adviser,  the  overseer,  and 
the  spiritual  guide  of  his  own  clergy ;  but  they  would 
have  none  of  him  in  the  character  of  a  State  functionary. 
Reading  the  future  by  the  past,  all  the  great  Evan- 
gelical organisations  of  America  regarded  the  Anglican 
Church  as  an  aggressive  power.  Within  no  very  dis- 
tant memory,  Episcopalians  had  annexed  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  Georgia  and  Maryland.  In  those 
colonies  where  Congregationalism  was  estabhshed  they 
received,  without  any  sign  of  gratitude,  their  share  of 
all  the  taxes  imposed  for  purposes  of  religion  ;  but  in 
Virginia  and  the  CaroUnas  they  kept  the  whole  of  those 
taxes  for  themselves.  While  religious  persecution  was 
dying  out  elsewhere.  Baptists  were  still  being  punished 
for  preaching  in  a  colony  where  the  Enghsh  Church 
held  sway.  In  the  public  assembhes  of  that  Church, 
and  in  its  printed  literature,  nine  out  of  ten  Americans 
were  classified  as  schismatics  ;  and  it  was  impossible  to 
contemplate  without  uneasiness  a  state  of  things  under 
which   the    strategical   operations    of    Anglicanism    in 

1  This  gentleman,  —  who  apparently  was  ignorant  that  the  Established 
Church  in  Boston  was  Congregationalist, —  hated  Presbyterians  because 
they  had  made  one  of  his  friends  do  public  penance  for  gross  profligacy  ; 
"  and  the  fellow,"  said  Macrabie,  "  was  worth  upwards  of  ten  thousand 
pounds ! " 


THE  BISHOP   QUESTION  IN  AMERICA  285 

America  would  be  directed  by  a  bishop,  quartered  on 
the  scene  of  action,  possessing  the  ear  of  the  Royal 
Governors,  and  backed  by  all  the  power  and  authority 
of  Great  Britain  whenever  a  Ministry  with  Anglican 
proclivities  was  installed  at  Downing  Street.  There 
would  be  an  end  thenceforward  to  comfortable  and 
friendly  relations  between  neighbours  and  kinsmen  who 
professed  different  creeds.  Each  colony  would  be 
divided  into  two  hostile  camps ;  and  all  other  religious 
bodies  would  have  to  be  perpetually  on  the  watch 
against  the  assaults  and  inroads  of  a  Church  which 
could  never  keep  herself  contented  and  tranquil  until 
her  own  faith  became  recognised  as  the  State  religion. 
In  their  opposition  to  the  introduction  of  a  bishop,  the 
American  people  may  be  said  to  have  anticipated  the 
Monroe  doctrine,  and  to  have  applied  it  to  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  John  Adams,  —  looking  back  to  theearly  Revolu- 
tionary period  across  a  space  of  fifty  years,  —  pronounced 
it  to  be  a  fact,  as  certain  as  any  in  the  history  of  North 
America,  that  the  apprehension  of  Episcopacy,  as  much 
as  any  other  cause,  aroused  the  attention,  not  only  of 
the  inquiring  mind,  but  of  the  common  people,  and 
urged  them  to  "  close  thinking  on  the  constitutional 
authority  of  Parliament  over  the  colonies."  ^ 

Dislike  and  dread  of  Episcopacy  intensified  Ameri- 
can opposition  to  the  fiscal  poHcy  of  Parliament;  and 
the  Non-Importation  Agreement,  in  the  all  but  unani- 
mous view  of  its  promoters,  held  good  against  bishops 
as  well  as  against  all  other  British  products.  When  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  afterwards  the  tea-duty,  had  inflamed 
New  England,  —  and  when  London  was  in  a  roar  with 
rioting  for  Wilkes  and  Liberty,  —  the  Cabinet  would 
have  been  pleased  if  religious  differences  in  the  colonies 
had  been  permitted  to  sleep.     The  bishops,  (Franklin 

1  Ex-Presidcnt  Adams  to  Doctor  Jedediah  Morse  ;  Quincy,  December 
2,  1815.  The  letter  is  one  of  a  series  of  seven,  which  together  form  a 
most  interesting  and  instructive  historical  retrospect,  perfectly  marvellous 
as  coming  from  the  pen  of  a  man  of  eighty.  It  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  there  is  any  other  known  instance  of  intellectual  vigour  preserved, 
unimpaired  and  unmodified,  to  such  an  advanced  age. 


286  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

wrote,)  were  very  desirous  of  effecting  the  enlargement 
of  the  Church  of  England  in  America,  by  sending  one 
of  their  number  thither ;  but  the  Government  was  pru- 
dently deaf  to  their  solicitations. ^  While,  however, 
the  King  and  his  ministers  possessed  the  means  of 
keeping  live  diocesans  in  order,  they  had  no  hold  on 
the  dead ;  and  it  was  from  the  grave  that  their  troubles 
came.  Seeker  died  in  July  1768,  after  having  been 
Primate  of  All  England  for  ten  years ;  and  a  twelve- 
month subsequently  there  appeared  "  A  Letter  written 
January  9,  1750,  by  the  Right  Reverend  Thomas 
Seeker,  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford,  concerning  Bishops  in 
America  ;  Printed  for  J.  and  F.  Rivington  at  the  Bible 
and  the  Crown  in  Saint  Paul's  Churchyard."  What- 
ever the  publication  of  that  letter  may  have  done  for 
the  Bible,  it  was  a  very  bad  stroke  indeed  for  the  Crown. 
It  was  understood  that,  soon  after  he  was  settled  at 
Lambeth,  the  Archbishop  had  written  in  his  own  hand 
directions  for  printing  and  circulating  the  document  as 
his  posthumous  message  to  the  world.  His  proposals 
were  extremely  moderate,  equitable  in  intention,  and 
put  forward  in  guarded  language ;  ^  but  they  at  once 
excited  in  the  colonies  an  acute  and  violent  controversy, 
in  which  the  memory  of  the  departed  prelate  was  not 
spared.  The  situation  was  aggravated  by  the  clumsy 
wording  of  a  Memorial  which  the  English  clergy  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  addressed  to  the  Govern- 

1  Benjamin  Franklin  to  John  Ross  ;  London,  May  14,  1768.  In  July 
of  the  same  year  Mr.  HoUis  wrote  from  England  ;  "There  is  great  reason 
to  believe  that  the  scheme  for  bishoping  America  has  been  dropped,  most 
wisely,  by  the  civil  ministers  here  for  some  months." 

2  Archbishop  Seeker  was  quite  sincere,  if  sometimes  rather  unhandy, 
in  his  desire  to  conciliate  the  prevalent  religious  opinion  of  America.  He 
was  an  ardent  Protestant,  who  acknowledged  Protestants  of  all  sects  and 
churches  as  his  allies,  and  who  lived  with  prominent  Nonconformists,  (such 
as  Doddri'lgeand  Chandler,  Leland,  Lardner,  and  Watts,)  on  terms  of  genial 
civility,  and,  in  some  cases,  of  steady  friendship.  Thomas  I  lollis  of  Dorset- 
shire, the  antiquary  and  virtuoso,  —  who  was  an  admiring  and  confidential 
correspondent  of  Jonathan  Mayhew,  and  a  lifelong  enemy  to  sacerdotal 
claims,  —  gave  Seeker,  as  a  testimony  of  esteem,  "  a  head  of  Socrates 
engraved  on  green  jasper,  and  set  in  gold  as  a  seal,  which  cost  Mr.  HoUis 
six  guineas." 


THE  BISHOP   QUESTION  IN  AMERICA  287 

ment  in  London,  praying  for  a  bishop,  but  disclaiming 
all  wish  that  he  should  exercise  any  jurisdiction  over 
"  Dissenters,  or  abridge  the  ample  Toleration  "  which 
those  Dissenters  at  present  enjoyed.  That  a  denomina- 
tion, whose  members  were  in  a  very  small  minority, 
should  tell  the  other  fourteen-fifteenths  of  the  popula- 
tion that  they  might  continue  to  be  tolerated,  was 
regarded  as  a  piece  of  gratuitous  presumption  by  Pres- 
byterians and  Congregationalists.  A  humiliating  and 
precarious  dole  of  immunity  from  actual  persecution 
was  not  the  sort  of  religious  liberty  in  quest  of  which 
their  forefathers  had  crossed  the  ocean. 

Edmund  Burke,  who  knew  his  subject,  warned  the 
House  of  Commons  that  the  adversaries  of  Episco- 
palianism  in  America  were  not  a  feeble  folk.  The  prev- 
alent religion,  (he  said,)  in  our  Northern  colonies  was 
a  refinement  on  the  principle  of  Resistance ;  under  a 
variety  of  denominations  it  agreed  in  nothing  but  in  a 
communion  of  the  spirit  of  liberty  ;  it  was  the  Dissi- 
dence  of  Dissent,  and  the  Protestantism  of  the  Protestant 
religion.  Those  words  were  very  finely,  and  most 
appropriately,  chosen.  All  along  the  Western  frontier 
lived  Irish  Presbyterians  of  Scottish  descent;  skilful  and 
truculent  Indian  fighters ;  men  of  warlike  traditions, 
and  with  very  long  memories  indeed.  Their  great-grand- 
fathers had  borne  the  brunt  of  the  struggle  against 
James  the  Second  and  Tyrconnell  at  Londonderry 
and  Enniskillen  ;  and,  when  the  peril  was  over,  they 
had,  as  their  reward,  been  driven  from  their  Ulster 
homes  in  scores  of  thousands  by  that  savage  and  in- 
quisitorial Test  Act  which  the  bishops  of  the  Established 
Church,  who  disliked  Nonconformists  at  least  as  much 
as  they  feared  Roman  Catholics,  had  insisted  on  obtain- 
ing from  the  Irish  Parliament.  The  central  colonies 
held  many  Huguenot  families,  whose  ancestors,  the 
salt  and  leaven  of  the  French  nation,  had  escaped  into 
exile  from  the  senile  bigotry  and  inhumanity  of  Louis  the 
Fourteenth  ;  and  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
(although    great    Court    ladies    had    something    to    say 


288  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

towards  it,)  was  mainly  attributed  to  Episcopal  inspira- 
tion.^ Far  more  numerous  than  Huguenots  or  Irish 
Presbyterians,  and  to  the  full  as  well  provided  with 
reasons  for  an  hereditary  distrust  of  bishops,^  were  the 
sons  of  the  old  English  Puritans ;  most  of  whom,  in 
creed,  in  temper,  and  in  the  usages  of  their  daily  life, 
might  still  be  accounted  as  Puritans  themselves.  Their 
spokesman  and  fugleman  in  ecclesiastical  polemics  had 
till  very  lately  been  Jonathan  Mayhew,  minister  of  the 
West  Church  in  Boston  ;  a  noble  preacher  and  writer, 
whose  earnestness  of  purpose,  and  lofty  sweep  of 
thought,  kept  in  subordination,  (but  not  always,)  his 
flashing  and  scorching  wit,  and  vivified  his  abundant 
stores  of  learning. 

Mayhew  w^as  no  longer  alive ;  for  that  sharp  sword 
early  wore  through  the  scabbard  ;  but  public  opinion  in 
New  England  was  more  than  ever  imbued,  and  public 
action  dictated,  by  his  audacious  spirit.  The  denuncia- 
tions of  Episcopacy  and  arbitrary  government,  which 
he  had  thundered  forth  from  his  pulpit,  were  still  the 
favourite  reading  of  a  serious-minded  and  angry  people  ; 
and  his  influence  may  be  traced  in  Whig  sermons  and 
pamphlets  during  the  whole  period  that  elapsed,  from 
the  closing  of  Boston  Port,  to  the  firing  of  the  volley 
on  Lexington  Common.  In  a  celebrated  discourse  of 
the  year  1763  he  had  bidden  his  congregation  to  reflect 
upon  all  that  their  forefathers   suffered  from  bishops. 


1  "  Of  seven  men,  who  acted  as  presiding  officer  over  the  deliberations 
of  Congress  during  the  Revolutionary  period,  three  were  of  Huguenot 
parentage  :  Laurens,  Boudinot,  and  Jay."  The  Homes  of  American 
Statesmen,  by  Elbert  Hubbard  ;  New  York  and  London,  1S9S. 

2  Many  of  the  American  Puritans,  or  most  of  them,  had  not  been 
Nonconformists  at  home.  John  Winthrop,  the  first  and  best  of  Massa- 
chusetts Governors,  wrote  thus  in  a  farewell  letter  when  his  ship  was 
about  to  sail  :  "Take  notice  that  the  principals  and  body  of  our  company 
esteem  it  our  honour  to  call  the  Church  of  England,  from  whence  wee 
rise,  our  deare  mother,  and  cannot  part  from  our  native  country,  where 
she  specially  resideth,  without  much  sadness  of  heart,  and  many  tears  in 
our  eyes."  Those  were  the  sort  of  people  hundreds  of  thousands  of  whom 
more  than  now,  but  for  Laud  and  his  coadjutors,  would  be  in  the  Church 
of  England  to-day. 


THE    CLERGY  IN   THE  REVOLUTION  289 

Would  "  the  mitred,  lordly  successors  of  the  fishermen 
of  Galilee,"  (he  asked,)  "never  let  us  rest  in  peace, 
except  where  all  the  weary  are  at  rest  ?  Was  it  not 
enough  that  they  had  persecuted  us  out  of  the  Old 
World  ?  Would  they  now  pursue  us  into  the  New, 
compassing  sea  and  land  to  make  us  proselytes  ?  What 
other  sanctuary  from  their  oppressions  would  be  left 
us,  if  once  these  colonies  were  added  to  their  domain  ? 
Where  was  the  Columbus  to  explore  for  us  another 
America,  and  pilot  us  to  its  shores,  before  we  are  con- 
sumed by  the  flames,  or  deluged  in  a  flood,  of  Episco- 
pacy?" Mayhew  traced  the  origin  of  his  political  and 
his  ecclesiastical  creed  to  the  prose  works  of  John  Mil- 
ton ;  nor  was  the  surge  of  his  eloquence,  or  the  furious, 
and  sometimes  turbid,  current  of  his  invective,  unworthy 
of  the  source  from  which  his  doctrine  had  been  drawn. 
The  vehemence  of  language  employed  by  such  men  at 
such  epochs,  —  surprising,  and  even  shocking,  to  a  cool 
and  impartial  posterity,  —  has  a  prime  historical  value  as 
illustrating  the  inner  mind  of  those  among  their  con- 
temporaries and  fellow-citizens  who  listened  to  such 
high-pitched  and  scathing  rhetoric  with  unreserved  con- 
viction and  enthusiastic  approval.^ 

The  stormy  aspect  of  politics  did  not  intimidate  the 
Anglican  clergy  of  the  colonies  into  letting  their  de- 
mand for  a  bishop  drop.  Doctor  John  Vardill  of  New 
York  wrote  to  Lord  Dartmouth  that  the  equity  and 
utility  of  such  a  measure  seemed  no  longer  doubtful, 
and  that  the  only  question  now  was  whether  an  imme- 

1  Another  of  Mayhew's  serniuns,  (which  John  Adams  placed  on  a 
level  of  satire  and  irony  with  the  productions  of  Swift  and  Frantclin,)  was 
the  Discourse  concerning  Unlimited  Submission,  preached  on  the  Sunday 
immediately  after  the  Thirtieth  of  January,  1750.  Mayhew  there  laitl  it 
down  as  his  opinion  that  the  commemoration  of  the  death  of  Charles  the 
First  would  have  at  least  one  good  result,  if  it  should  "prove  a  standing 
memento  that  Britons  will  not  be  slaves,  and  a  warning  to  all  corrupt 
councillors  and  ministers  not  to  go  t>io  far  in  advising  arl)itrary  despotic 
measures."  The  time  came  when  such  a  memento  had  its  uses  ;  but  it 
was  not  needed  while  old  (jeorge  the  Second  was  King,  and  still  less  when 
Chatham  became  his  minister. 

VOL.   III.  U 


290  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

diate  appointment  would  be  seasonable. ^  His  letter 
was  dated  the  First  of  September,  1774;  the  precise 
day  when  General  Gage  seized  the  powder  of  the 
Massachusetts  militia,  and  when  the  freeholders  of  the 
province  marched  into  Cambridge  many  thousand  strong 
in  order  to  show  the  Royal  Governor  that  he  had  better 
not  try  their  patience  again,  as  there  was  a  very  scanty 
supply  of  it  remaining.  And  then,  after  no  long  inter- 
val, the  fateful  moment  arrived  when 

"  The  war  of  tongue  and  pen 
Learns  with  what  deadly  purpose  it  was  fraught, 
And,  helpless  in  the  fiery  passion  caught, 
Shakes  all  the  pillared  State  with  shock  of  men." 

An  historian  of  rare  philosophical  insight,  and  unsur- 
passed range  of  reading  over  all  the  period  which  he 
treats,  has  analysed  the  nature  of  the  moral  convulsion 
which  was  produced  in  the  national  mind  of  America 
by  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  between  King  George's 
troops  and  the  minute-men.  "As  the  news,"  (so  the 
passage  runs,)  "travelled  from  man  to  man,  on  white 
lips,  up  and  down  the  country,  all  at  once  on  each 
group  of  listeners  there  seemed  to  come  a  spiritual 
revolution ; "  an  instantaneous  conviction  that  hence- 
forward all  questions  of  stamps,  and  paints,  and  glass, 
and  tea,  — all  fine-drawn  constitutional  arguments  about 
the  Right  of  Representation  and  the  Right  of  Petition, 
—  were  already  things  of  a  dead  past.  Americans 
found  themselves  confronted  of  a  sudden  by  terribly 
grave,  and  in  no  sense  metaphysical,  problems  relating 
to  their  necks  and  fortunes,  the  inviolability  of  their 
homes,  and  the  security  of  their  families.^  Every  one,' 
from  that  moment  onward,  would  have  to  fight  for 
whatever,  as  a  private  man,  he  held  dearest ;  and  the 

1  Before  the  end  of  the  year  Doctor  Vardill  embarked  for  England, 
"  wrote  some  poetical  satires  on  the  Whigs,"  and  eventually  closed  his 
career  in  a  Lincolnshire  Rectory.  That  was  a  normal  biography  for  an 
Episcopalian  clergyman  of  the  American  Revolution. 

2  Professor  Tyler's  Literary  History;  Vol.  1.,  chapter  xix.,  sec- 
tion iii. 


THE    CLERGY  IN   THE   REVOLUTION 


291 


clergy  of  the  great  Evangelical  Churches  throughout 
the  continent  believed  that  something  was  at  stake 
which  they  valued  more  highly  than  all  their  material 
possessions  together.  There  was  not  a  single  instance 
in  history,  (said  one  of  them,)  in  which  civil  liberty  was 
lost,  and  religious  liberty  preserved  entire ;  so  that, 
if  the  colonists  accepted  political  subjugation,  they 
would  at  the  same  time  deliver  their  conscience  into 
bondage.  Such  was  the  view  of  Doctor  John  Wither- 
spoon,  the  President  of  Princeton  College,  whose  Hbrary 
the  Hessians  ransacked  ;  and  that  persuasion  was  al- 
most universally  entertained  by  Presbyterian,  Baptist, 
and  Congregational  ministers.  At  the  first  call  to  arms 
they  flung  themselves  into  the  cause  of  the  Revolution, 
zealously,  uncompromisingly,  and  with  most  visible, 
and  even  decisive,  consequences.  In  America,  (accord- 
ing to  one  Loyalist  writer,)  as  in  the  Great  Rebellion 
of  England,  much  execution  was  done  by  sermons. 
"What  effect,"  said  another,  "must  it  have  had  upon 
the  audience  to  hear  the  same  sentiments  and  principles, 
which  they  had  before  read  in  a  newspaper,  delivered  on 
Sundays  from  the  sacred  desk,  with  a  religious  awe,  and 
the  most  solemn  appeals  to  heaven,  from  lips  which  they 
had  been  taught  from  their  cradles  to  believe  could 
utter  nothing  but  eternal  truths  !  " 

So  long  as  the  war  endured  there  was  no  lack  of 
stated  and  special  occasions  for  bringing  clerical  influence 
to  bear.  Full  advantage  was  taken  of  Fast-days,  Thanks- 
giving-days, Election-days,  and  the  anniversaries  of 
battles  and  of  other  momentous  events  which  had  oc- 
curred during  the  progress  of  the  struggle.^  In  perilous 
emergencies  prayers  were  ordered  throughout  the  Con- 
federacy for  deliverance  from  the  hand  of  the  enemy  ; 
for  a  plentiful  harvest  which  would  enable  those,  who 
gathered  in  the  crops  at  home,  to  supply  the  needs  of 
their  brethren  in  the  army;  and,  —  always  and  above 
all,  —  for  genuine  and  heart-felt  repentance  of  those  sins 
that  had  brought  down  God's  wrath   upon  the  commu- 

'  Tyler's  History  ;  Vul.  II.,  chapter  xxxv.,  section  i. 

U  2 


292 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


nity.  From  time  to  time  some  Church  Synod  would 
address  to  its  congregations  a  Pastoral  Letter  setting 
forth,  and  enforcing,  the  whole  duty  of  man  in  time  of 
war  and  civil  dissension.  The  Societies  were  admon- 
ished and  adjured  to  maintain  the  union  between  the 
colonies ;  to  respect  Congress,  and  those  delegates  who 
had  been  freely  chosen  by  the  people ;  to  observe  a 
spirit  of  candour,  charity,  and  mutual  esteem  towards 
members  of  other  religious  denominations ;  to  dis- 
courage profligacy  and  extravagance  ;  to  defend  public 
order;  and,  (as  in  many  places  legal  proceedings  had 
been  unavoidably  suspended,)  to  see  that  just  debts 
were  promptly  and  honestly  paid.  Whatever  other 
advice  the  letter  might  contain,  it  began  and  ended  with 
a  reminder  that  no  man  could  be  a  true  servant  of  the 
nation,  whose  private  conduct  was  not  regulated  by  the 
Divine  law ;  or  a  good  soldier,  unless  he  fought  and 
conquered  what  was  evil  in  himself.^ 

The  sincerity  of  these  exhortations  was  attested  by 
a  general  movement  for  the  reformation  of  manners, 
even  where  they  had  not  been  very  bad  before.  In  the 
Southern  and  Central  colonies  theatrical  entertainments 
had  long  enjoyed  a  popularity  which  scandalised  the 
Pennsylvanian  Quakers,  whom  enterprising  managers 
vainly  essayed  to  conciliate  by  advertising  their  come- 
dies and  tragedies  as  a  series  of  Moral  Dialogues  in 
five  parts.  The  Northern  provinces,  as  a  rule,  kept  the 
drama  rigidly  outside  their  confines ;  but  New  England 
had  her  own  dissipations.  The  company  at  a  funeral 
was  served  with  meat  and  drink  ;  though  with  a  great 
deal  less  of  the  latter  than  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas. 
Seven    hundred,   a   thousand,    and    so   many   as   three 

1  The  American  Archives  give  a  fine  specimen  of  such  a  document  in 
a  Pastoral  Letter  from  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  to  the 
Congregations  under  their  care,  to  be  delivered  from  the  Pulpit  on  the  20th 
of  July,  1775.  The  outbreak  of  a  war,  (it  is  there  said,)  should  be  regarded 
as  "  the  proper  time  iox  pressing  all  of  every  rank  to  consider  the  things 
that  belong  to  their  eternal  peace.  There  is  nothing  more  awful  to  think 
of  than  that  those,  whose  trade  is  war,  should  be  despisers  of  the  name  of 
the  Lord  of  Hosts." 


THE   CLERGY  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 


293 


thousand,  pairs  of  gloves  had  been  distributed  on  such 
occasions;  and  the  worth  of  the  mourning-rings  and 
silken  scarves,  which  fell  to  the  share  of  a  leading  Boston 
clergyman,  constituted  a  valuable  augmentation  of  his 
yearly  income.  Volleys  were  fired  over  the  graves  of 
distinguished  citizens,  to  the  consumption,  in  one  case, 
of  a  barrel  and  a  half  of  powder.  But,  on  and  after  the 
nineteenth  of  April,  1775,  all  the  procurable  saltpetre 
was  husbanded  for  a  more  urgent  purpose ;  and  before 
that  date  the  First  Continental  Congress  had  already 
pledged  every  patriot  to  refrain  from  expensive  articles 
of  adornment  at  burials,  and  to  shun  and  discountenance 
horse-racing,  and  all  kinds  of  gaming,  cock-fighting,  ex- 
hibitions of  shows,  plays,  and  other  diversions.  If  the 
prohibition  of  theatrical  performances  had  been  enacted 
by  law,  (it  has  been  acutely  said,)  a  loophole  might 
have  been  discovered  in  the  Statute  ;  "  but  the  manager, 
who  should  have  disregarded  the  expressed  wish  of 
Congress  at  this  time,  would  have  looked  the  lightning 
in  the  face.  The  actors  sailed  for  the  West  Indies ;  to 
return  Northward,  like  migratory  birds  of  song,  when 
storms  should  have  blown  over."  ^ 

The  corporate  and  collective  action  of  the  American 
clergy  was  a  mighty  force  in  politics ;  but  the  influence 
of  the  individual  minister  must  be  accounted  as  more 
important  still.  That  influence,  though  dependent  on 
the  esteem  and  personal  regard  felt  towards  him  by 
his  neighbours,  was  almost  absolute  in  spiritual  matters, 
and  not  seldom  extended  over  every  department  of 
daily  life.  In  the  farmhouses  which  lay  within  a  long 
walk,  or  leisurely  drive,  of  his  residence,  the  pastor  was 
a  welcome  guest  whenever  the  shadow  of  his  great  hat 

1  Article  on  Social  Life  in  the  Colonies,  by  the  Rev*.  Edward  Eggles- 
ton  ;  1884.  During  the  outburst  of  feeling  against  the  Stamp  Act  in  i  765, 
the  New  York  mob,  ascetic  beyond  its  wont,  pulled  down  a  theatre. 

The  New  England  Puritans  felt  and  acted  like  their  forefathers  when 
in  much  the  same  stress  of  peril.  In  1642,  three  weeks  before  Kdgchill, 
the  Houses  voted  that  public  sports  did  not  agree  well  with  public  calami- 
ties ;  and  that  while  sad  causes,  and  set  times  of  humiliation,  continued, 
stage-plays  should  cease  and  be  forborne. 


294  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

darkened  the  threshold.  There  he  would  sit,  sipping 
the  decoction  of  sassafras  which  did  duty  for  tea  in  a 
strict  patriotic  household  ;  asking  affectionately  after  the 
son  who  was  serving  with  his  regiment ;  smiling  gravely 
at  the  portrait  of  King  George  as  it  hung  head  down- 
wards on  the  wall ;  reading  out,  with  vigorous  com- 
ments, the  latest  news  from  Congress,  and  from  the 
Canadian  border ;  and  dropping  some  uncomplimentary 
epithet  with  reference  to  any  Cabinet  minister  whose 
name  came  up  in  the  conversation,  save  and  except  the 
good  Lord  Dartmouth.  His  more  remote  parishioners 
lived  in  the  light  of  his  countenance  at  least  on  one 
day  in  every  week,  and  all  that  day  long.  When  the 
Sunday  came,  they  flocked  into  the  chief  settlement  of 
the  Township  from  forest-clearings  and  upland  hamlets, 
and  spent  the  interval  between  the  Services  before  the 
great  fire-place  in  the  minister's  kitchen,  or  in  the 
Sabbath-houses  and  noon-houses  which  dotted  the  vil- 
lage green.  These  humble  caravanseries  provided  a 
stable  at  the  back  of  the  building,  and  a  roughly  fur- 
nished parlour  where  the  families  from  a  distance  ate 
their  cold  viands,  and  in  quieter  times  talked  over  the 
sermon,  or  listened  to  the  reading  aloud  of  an  edify- 
ing book ;  1  but  during  the  Revolution  there  was,  in 
one  notable  respect,  no  restraint  upon  their  talk ;  inas- 
much as  it  was  clearly  understood,  by  all  concerned, 
that  the  war  ranked  as  a  Sunday  topic. 

Inside  the  church,  fervent,  and  perpetually  varied, 
prayers  for  the  temporal  welfare  of  the  nation,  and  for 
the  protection  of  those  friends  and  kinsmen  who  were 
under  arms  in  the  fore-front  of  peril,  excited  warmer, 
emotions  than  are  ordinarily  evoked  by  the  weekly 
repetition  of  the  words  set  down  in  the  Episcopalian 
Liturgy  for  use  in  time  of  War  and  Tumults.  Allusions 
to  those  public  hopes  and  fears,  that  filled  every  heart, 
kept  the  sermon  alive  from  the  giving  out  of  the  text  to 
the  valedictory  sentence,  which  was  often  very  long  in 

1  Article  on  Church  and  Meeting-house  before  the  Revolution  by  the 
Rev*.  Edward  Eggleston,  D.D. ;   April  1887. 


THE    CLERGY  IN   THE  REVOLUTION 


295 


coming.!  ^  preacher,  who  fell  short  of  what  was  ex- 
pected of  him  as  a  good  citizen,  soon  received  a  hint  that 
his  people  were  displeased  and  disappointed  ;  ^  but  there 
were  few  of  their  profession  who  needed  spurring ;  and, 
if  any  of  them  hung  back  for  a  while,  their  hesitation 
disappeared  as  soon  as  muskets  had  been  discharged 
in  anger.  That  clergyman  who,  on  the  afternoon  of 
Lexington,  at  the  head  of  his  parishioners  attacked 
and  captured  a  provision  convoy  in  the  rear  of  Lord 
Percy's  column,  had  been  refused  the  use  of  a  Whig 
pulpit  because  he  was  suspected  of  being  lukewarm  in 
the  colonial  cause ;  but  his  Toryism  lasted  no  longer 
than  the  moment  when  the  red-coats  passed  in  front  of 
his  window  on  their  march  to  Concord.  There  stood 
lately,  and  perhaps  now  stands,  a  quaint  stone  and 
brick  meeting-house  at  Rocky  Spring  in  the  Cumber- 
land Valley,  where,  at  a  certain  point  in  a  discourse, 
the  Presbyterian  congregation  of  Scottish-Irishmen  rose 
to  their  feet,  and  declared  their  readiness  to  march  at 
once  to  the  aid  of  General  Washington.  One  of  the 
mothers,  who  grudged  her  son  as  food  for  powder  at  so 
short  a  notice,  then  and  there  protested  in  homely  and 
cutting  phrases  ;  —  a  remonstrance  to  which  the  preacher 
replied  by  marching  with  his  people  as  their  captain  ; 
and  a  very  good  captain  he  made.^ 

The  ministers,  however,  who  abode  in  their  parsonages 
did  much  more  for  the  Revolution  than  if  they  had  gone 

1  »  \Ygg  have  a  strong  weakness  in  that,  when  wee  are  speaking,  wee 
know  not  how  to  conclude.  Wee  make  many  ends  before  wee  make  an 
end."  So  wrote,  in  1641,  the  Reverend  Nathaniel  Ward,  author  of  The 
Simple  Cobbler  of  Aggawam  in  America ;  and  the  confession  still  held 
good  in  the  fourth  generation  of  New  England  preachers. 

2  Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill  John  Adams  wrote  to  his 
wife,  inquiring  whether  a  certain  clergyman  preached  against  oppression, 
and  bidding  her  tell  him  that  the  clergy  in  Philadelphia  thundered  and 
lightened  every  Sabbath.  "They  pray  for  Boston  and  the  Massachusetts. 
They  thank  God  most  explicitly  and  fervently  for  our  remarkable  successes. 
They  pray  for  the  American  army." 

^  "Quit  talking,  Mr.  Craighead,"  (she  said,)  "and  gang  yersel'  to  the 
war.  You  are  always  preaching  to  the  boys  aliout  it,  hut  I  dinna  think 
ye'd  be  very  likely  to  gang  yersel'.  Just  go  and  try  it  !  "  Article  on  the 
Country  Church  in  Ainerica  by  William  B.  Bigelow  ;    November  1897. 


296  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

off  in  a  body  to  the  war.  A  new  Government,  —  with  a 
volunteer  army,  and  a  loosely  organised  political  consti- 
tution, -  was  immeasurably  strengthened  by  the  circum- 
stance that  at  least  one  person  of  good  education,  and 
long-established  authority,  who  was  at  the  same  time  a 
keen  and  indefatigable  champion  of  the  popular  party, 
was  planted  in  every  town,  and  in  most  of  the  larger 
villages.  The  clergy  made  it  their  business  to  see  that 
staunch  patriots,  and  shrewd  men  of  affairs,  were  re- 
turned to  Congress ;  that  war  taxes  were  generously 
voted,  and  conscientiously  paid;  that  the  ranks  of  the 
local  Company  were  replenished  with  recruits  ;  and  that 
whoever  had  once  enlisted  should  stay  with  the  colours 
until  his  time  was  up.  A  farming  lad  who  tired  of  cam- 
paigning, and  was  tempted  to  return  home  without  leave, 
knew  well  that,  —  even  if  his  sweet-heart  forgave  him, 
and  his  father  was  secretly  glad  to  have  him  back  for 
the  hay-harvest,  —  he  should  never  dare  to  face  the  min- 
ister. From  first  to  last,  in  each  district  throughout  the 
continent,  there  was  a  leader  and  adviser  always  at  hand 
to  encourage  those  who  were  more  timorous,  and  less  con- 
stant, than  himself ;  whether  amid  the  doubts  and  mis- 
givings of  the  crucial  period  when  men  were  first  taking 
sides,  or  in  the  terror  and  anxiety  consequent  upon  the 
early  disasters  of  the  Republic,  or  throughout  that  fit  of 
utter  weariness  which  settled  down  upon  the  public  mind 
during  the  later  stages  of  the  lingering  struggle.  There 
was  no  exaggeration  whatever  in  the  report  made  to 
Lord  Dartmouth  by  his  principal  American  correspond- 
ent. Religion,  (this  gentleman  wrote,)  had  operated  as 
much  as  any  other  cause  to  the  general  distraction ;  and 
his  Lordship  would  be  greatly  mistaken  unless  he  re- 
garded the  conflict  as  mainly  a  religious  war.^ 

The  Episcopalian  clergy  of  America  were  not  so  uni- 
versally Tory  as  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational 

1  Ambrose  Serle  to  Lord  Dartmouth;  New  York,  November  1776. 
"Your  Lordship,"  (Mr.  Serle  wrote  shortly  afterwards,)  "can  scarcely 
conceive  what  Fury  the  discourses  of  some  preachers  have  created  in  this 
country." 


THE    CLERGY  IN   THE  REVOLUTION  2()7 

ministers  were  Whig ;  ^  but  those  of  them,  who  stood 
for  the  Crown,  formed  a  large  majority  among  their 
brethren  ;  and  they  were  very  hot  partisans  indeed.  For 
the  most  part  they  confidently  believed  that  the  hour 
had  come,  late  in  time,  when  Archbishop  Laud's  plan 
for  securing  Church  government  in  the  colonies  might 
be  successfully  adopted.  That  prelate,  in  1638,  had 
proposed  to  send  a  Bishop  across  the  ocean,  and  to  sup- 
port him  "  with  some  forces  to  compel,  if  he  could  not 
otherwise  persuade,  obedience."  Early  in  the  war  a 
missionary  of  the  Propagation  Society,  who  had  recently 
left  New  Vork,  reported  at  the  Annual  Meeting  in  Lon- 
don that  the  rebellion  would  undoubtedly  be  crushed, 
and  that  then  would  be  the  time  to  take  steps  for 
increasing  the  Church  in  America  by  granting  it  an 
Episcopacy ;  but  after  the  battle  of  Trenton,  and  the 
collapse  of  Howe's  campaign,  the  prospect  of  that  con- 
summation was  removed  into  a  less  near  future.  There 
was,  however,  one  portion  of  the  American  population 
already  at  the  absolute  disposal  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment ;  and,  in  their  treatment  of  those  unlucky  people, 
the  royal  authorities  prematurely  showed  their  hand. 
The  commander  of  a  garrison  town  where  many  officers 
-of  the  Revolutionary  army,  who  had  been  taken  in  bat- 
tles, were  living  on  parole,  announced  himself  as  having 
been  informed  that  the  rebel  prisoners  had  held  private 
meetings  for  the  purpose  of  performing  Divine  Service 
agreeably  to  their  religious  principles.  Such  meetings, 
(he  told  them,)  would  no  longer  be  allowed  ;  but  seats 
would  be  provided  at  the  Parish  Church,  where  it  was 
expected  that  they  would  observe  the  utmost  decency. 
One  of  the  most  esteemed  among  the  prisoners  replied 
in  an  address  not  deficient  in  dignity  and  pathos  ;  but 
the  policy  was  maintained,  and  the  Americans  who  had 
been  captured  at  Long  Island  and  P'ort  Washington 
were  given  the  choice  of  abstaining  from  all  attendance 

^  In  Garden's  Anecdotes  it  is  alleged  that  no  fewer  than  five-and-twenty 
clerg)'men  of  the  Carolinian  Flstaljlishcd  Church  were  in  favour  of  the 
Revolution  ;   but  the  statement  requires  confiroiation. 


298  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

on  public  worship,  or  of  taking  part  in  prayers  for  the 
slaughter  and  discomfiture  of  their  own  friends  and 
comrades.^ 

While  the  Episcopalian  Church  reigned  supreme  in 
all  districts  over  which  the  Royal  standard  floated,  out- 
side the  British  lines  it  nowhere  remained  dominant, 
and  in  many  places  it  very  soon  became  a  persecuted 
body.  The  Anglican  Establishment  in  the  Southern 
Plantations  went  down  beneath  the  first  gust  of  the 
tornado.  Ecclesiastical  endowments  and  privileges  were 
extinguished  as  automatically,  instantly,  and  irrevocably 
as  Feudal  dues  and  services  disappeared  throughout 
rural  France  so  soon  as  the  peasants  learned  that  the 
Bastille  had  fallen.  Moreover,  in  July  1775,  the  Vir- 
ginian Convention  ordained  certain  alterations  in  the 
Communion  service,  and  in  the  fifteenth,  and  the  three 
following  sentences,  of  the  Litany.  All  mention  of  the 
King  and  the  Royal  Family  was  to  be  expunged  from 
the  Prayer-book ;  and  the  blessings  of  Heaven  were 
thenceforward  to  be  invoked  on  behalf  "of  the  Magis- 
trates of  this  Commonwealth."  It  was  as  drastic  a  test 
as  the  command  laid  upon  primitive  Christians  to  burn 
frankincense  on  Jupiter's  altar ;  and  it  was  encountered 
with  almost  as  much  courage  and  devotion. 

Soon  after  Washington  assumed  command  in  New 
York,  he  sent  word  to  Doctor  Inglis,  then  Assistant 
Rector   of   the   Trinity  Church    in    that   city,  that   he 


1  It  was  an  action,  (so  the  remonstrance  ran,)  "  totally  unworthy  of  the 
Christian  character,  and  even  short  of  Heathen  tenderness  and  forbear- 
ance. For  we  read  in  Scripture  that  Paul,  then  a  prisoner  in  Rome,  dwelt 
for  two  years  in  his  own  hired  house,  and  relieved  all  that  came  unto  him, 
preaching  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  teaching  those  things  which  concern 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  all  confidence  ;  no  man  forbidding  him. 
This  only  was  our  desire  ;  and  this  we  think  was  our  duty.  .  .  .  Can  it 
be  expected  that  we  could,  with  the  least  sincerity,  join  in  prayer  for  the 
daily  destruction  of  our  brethren  ?  Rather  than  join  in  such  hypocritical 
petitions,  and  perhaps  be  insulted  with  sermons  calculated  to  affront  us, 
we  have  resolved  to  refuse  our  attendance  on  Divine  worship,  and  at  our 
own  dwellings  silently  to  spend  our  returning  Sabbaths,  in  the  best  man- 
ner we  can,  by  reading  and  meditation,  until  it  shall  please  the  Almighty 
to  restore  us  again  to  peace,  and  to  our  afflicted  families  and  friends." 


THE   CLERGY  IN   THE  REVOLUTION  299 

would  be  glad  to  have  the  prayers  for  the  King  and  the 
Royal  Family  omitted.  The  American  General  was 
sincerely  desirous  to  be  present  at  the  sei^vices  of  his 
own  Church ;  but  a  person  of  even  less  ingrained  verac- 
ity than  George  Washington  would  have  scrupled  to 
join  in  supplications  for  the  victory  of  a  monarch  against 
whom  he  had  set  in  line  of  battle  twenty  thousand  sol- 
diers, carrying  pouches  filled  with  bullets  which  had 
been  cast  from  the  metal  of  His  Majesty's  statue. 
Doctor  Inglis,  at  the  time,  took  no  notice  of  the  Gener- 
al's message,  and  not  long  afterwards  told  him  plainly, 
and  to  his  face,  that,  with  an  armed  force  at  his  disposal, 
he  could,  of  course,  shut  up  churches,  but  that  it  was 
beyond  his  power  to  make  clergymen  depart  from  their 
duty.  The  Reverend  Jacob  Bailey  was  summoned  before 
a  Provincial  Committee  of  Safety,  to  explain  why  he  re- 
fused to  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  pub- 
lic. Bailey,  ■ — who  was  an  itinerant  missionary,  married, 
and  with  a  young  family,  —  replied  that  he  had  formerly 
taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  George  the  Second,  and 
held  himself  bound  thereby  not  to  renounce,  but  to  pray 
for,  George  the  Third.  During  the  first  six  months  of 
1775  the  Reverend  Jonathan  Boucher,  of  Annapolis  in 
Maryland,  always  preached  with  a  pair  of  loaded  pistols 
lying  on  the  cushion  in  front  of  him  ;  and  indeed,  with 
no  aid  from  fire-arms,  he  was  well  known  to  be  more 
than  a  match  for  any  single  member  of  his  congrega- 
tion.^ But,  though  valiant,  he  was  not  foolhardy ;  and 
the  day  came  when  he  solemnly  and  sadly  told  his  peo- 
ple from  the  pulpit  that  they  would  see  his  face  there 
no  more ;  but  that,  as  long  as  he  lived,  he  should  cry, 
with  Zadok  the  priest  and  Nathan  the  prophet,  "God 
save  the  King." 


1  Some  cowardly  fellows  set  a  burly  ruffian  of  a  blacksmith  upon  Mr. 
Boucher.  The  rector  at  once  knocked  down  his  assailant  ;  but  took 
neither  pride  nor  pleasure  in  the  achievement.  He  somewhat  plaintively 
and  shamefacedly  described  himself  as  having  acquired,  in  all  that  region, 
greater  honour  by  his  act  of  prowess  than  would  have  been  accorded  to 
him  there  if  he  had  possessed  the  brain  of  Isaac  Newton. 


300 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


That  was  Jonathan  Boucher's  farewell  sermon  at 
Annapolis.  With  more  or  less  outrage  and  insult  the 
stalwart  Loyalists  among  the  English  clergy  were  driven 
from  their  churches. ^  One  or  two  admirable  men,  dis- 
arming rancour  by  meekness,  remained  at  their  posts, 
and  did  as  much  of  their  duty,  as  the  Sons  of  Liberty 
permitted,  with  fidelity  and  rare  discretion.  The  Rever- 
end John  Wiswald,  of  Falmouth  in  Maine,  continued  to 
serve  his  parish  until  one  of  King  George's  post-captains 
burned  down  the  little  town,  and  the  English  church 
with  it.  The  Reverend  John  Sayre,  of  Fairfield  in  Con- 
necticut, was  sadly  harried  and  oppressed  by  the  Whigs 
of  the  vicinity ;  but  his  patient  manliness  at  length 
shamed  them  into  forbearance.  During  several  years 
he  continued  to  officiate  on  Sundays,  reading  the  Bible 
and  the  Homilies,  but  none  of  the  Prayer-book ;  be- 
cause, since  he  was  forbidden  to  use  the  Liturgy  in  its 
entirety,  he  could  not  find  it  with  his  conscience  to  muti- 
late it.  Half-way  through  the  war  Governor  Tryon,  on 
one  of  his  customary  raids,  set  fire  to  the  town  of  Fair- 
field. The  flames  spread  to  the  English  church  and  the 
parsonage ;  the  Communion  plate  was  destroyed,  as 
well  as  a  valuable  little  library  given  by  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel ;  and  Mr.  Sayre  was  left 
with  "  a  wife,  and  eight  children,  destitute  of  food,  house, 
and  raiment."  ^ 

Such  experiences,  in  the  end,  proved  too  strong  even 
for  the  most  zealous    and  long-suffering  of   mankind. 


^  There  were  parishes  where  the  assertion  of  the  popular  will  was  made 
decently  and  in  order,  but  to  the  full  as  efficaciously  as  in  those  where  the 
extreme  of  violence  was  employed.  In  August,  1774,  the  Curate  of  St. 
Michael's,  in  Charleston,  preached  a  political  discourse.  "  Every  silly 
clown,"  he  said,  "and  every  illiterate  mechanic,  will  take  upon  him  to 
censure  the  conduct  of  his  Prince  or  Governor,  and  will  contribute,  as 
much  as  in  him  lies,  to  create  and  foment  misunderstandings  which  come 
at  last  to  schisms  in  the  Church,  and  sedition  and  rebellion  in  the  State." 
The  Vestry  of  St.  Michael's  took  official  cognisance  of  the  sermon,  and 
dismissed  the  Curate. 

2  Letter  addressed  by  the  Reverend  John  Sayre,  towards  the  close  of 
1779,  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 


THE    CLERGY  IN   THE  REVOLUTION  30 1 

Episcopalian  churches  were  silent  and  deserted ;  ^  and 
the  wisest  and  best  of  the  Loyalist  Episcopalian  clergy 
took  their  departure  from  a  country  where  they  were 
no  longer  useful.  English  Churchmen,  both  at  home 
and  in  the  colonies,  readily  and  spontaneously  acknow- 
ledged their  obligation  to  those  honourable  and  resolute 
men.  Boucher,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  England,  be- 
came Vicar  of  Epsom,^  and  his  preaching  was  much 
admired ;  Doctor  Inglis  passed  over  to  Nova  Scotia, 
where  he  was  eventually  appointed  the  first  Colonial 
Bishop  in  the  British  dominions  in  any  part  of  the 
world ;  and  Jacob  Bailey  obtained  a  Rectory  in  the 
same  province.^  Some  keen  clerical  poHticians,  unable 
to  tear  themselves  from  the  tumultuous  joys  and  emo- 
tions of  the  strife,  stayed  behind  at  New  York,  or  on 
the  islands  in  the  Bay ;  for  they  could  not  with  impunity 
take  up  their  residence  beyond  the  beat  of  the  British 
drums.  Haunting  regimental  mess-rooms;  collecting 
and  dispensing  scraps  of  Tory  gossip ;  writing  those 
satires  and  lampoons  which  were  the  staple  political 
literature  of  the  period,  now  that  serious  constitutional 
argument  had  been  drowned  in  the  roar  of  battle ;  and 
celebrating  the  most  recent  military  success  over  a 
haunch  of  venison  and  a  dozen  of  madeira,  —  they  led 
a  desultory  and  demoralising  life,  not  altogether  becom- 
ing to  their  cloth.  Each  man  of  them  employed,  in  the 
furtherance  of  the  Royal  cause,  such  gifts  and  accom- 
plishments as  he  individually  possessed,  — from  the  Vir- 
ginian parson  of  the  old  school  who,  with  a  bowl  of 
grog  in  his  hand,  drank  victory  to  the  British  arms,*  up 

'  Out  of  very  near  a  hundred  Virginian  incumbents,  only  twenty-eight 
remained  in  their  parishes,  and  saw  tlie  war  through. 

^  Sabine's  Loyalists  ;  Vol.  1.,  page  240. 

*  Mr.  Bailey's  unbounded  charity  and  hospitality,  all  through  his  life, 
kept  him  poor  in  pelf;  though  he  was  very  rich  in  children.  One  of  his 
sons  got  a  commission  in  the  British  line,  and  was  killed  at  ('hipjiewa  in 
1814,  lighting  with  his  regiment  against  the  army  of  the  United  States. 

■'This  incident  took  place  at  "the  Ordinary  of  Mr.  John  Tankcrsly." 
The  Reverend  Thomas  Jackson,  of  Virginia,  was  in  consequence  de- 
nounced by  tiie  Charlotte  County  Committee  as  an  enemy  to  his  country. 


302 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


to  Jonathan  Odell,  the  clergyman-poet,  who  had  been 
expelled  by  the  New  Jersey  Whigs  from  his  Rectory  at 
Burlington.  That  fiery  partisan,  in  imitation  of  another 
famous  exile,  composed  an  imaginary  picture  of  the 
Regions  of  Torment,  with  immense  elaboration  and  at 
inordinate  length,  and  peopled  it  with  prominent  Con- 
gressmen and  with  Generals  of  the  Continental  Army. 
But,  as  a  consequence  of  the  changes  which  the  lapse 
of  time  has  wrought  in  the  creed  and  the  taste  of  the 
world,  certain  literary  possibilities  have  passed  away, 
perhaps  for  ever ;  and  even  the  genius  of  Dante,  which 
bore  little  resemblance  to  that  of  Jonathan  Odell,  would 
almost  certainly  have  failed  over  an  attempt  to  produce 
an  eighteenth-century  Inferno.^ 

The  political  action  of  the  Anglican  clergy  was  seri- 
ously, and  sometimes  very  painfully,  embarrassing  to 
those  lay  members  of  their  body  who  had  adopted  the 
opposite  view  of  the  great  question.  Such  men  were 
very  numerous.  Among  the  first  five  Presidents  of  the 
United  States,  including  all  who  may  fairly  be  classed  as 
contemporaries  of  the  Revolution,  no  fewer  than  three 
were  Episcopalians;  and  a  better  Churchman, —  or,  at 
all  events,  a  better  man  who  ranked  himself  as  a  Church- 
man,— than  George  Washington  it  would  have  been  hard 
indeed  to  discover.  When  at  home  on  the  bank  of  the 
Potomac,  he  had  always  gone  of  a  Sunday  morning  to 
what  would  have  been  called  a  distant  church  by  any  one 

When  the  officers,  who  had  been  made  prisoners  at  Fort  Washington, 
were  confined  in  Long  Island,  they  were  invited  to  the  country-house  of  a 
rich  New  York  merchant.  "  After  dinner,"  wrote  one  of  them,  "  the  son 
of  our  entertainer,  a  boy  about  seven  or  eight  years  of  age,  came  into  the 
room  ;  and  his  father,  putting  a  glass  of  wine  into  his  hand,  asked  him 
what  he  drank.  '  Church  and  King  !  '  pronounced  the  little  fellow  in  an 
audible  voice.  Perhaps  it  was  designed  as  a  delicate  mode  of  assuring  us 
that  the  civility  we  received  was  not  to  be  regarded  in  any  degree  as  a 
toleration  of  our  principles."  It  is  a  pretty  story,  and  indicates  how  com- 
pletely the  political  and  religious  questions  were  identified  in  the  American 
mind. 

1  The  last  five  paragraphs  have  been  chiefly  written  by  the  aid  of 
Sabine's  Loyalists,  Tyler's  Literary  History,  Garden's  Anecdotes,  and  the 
American  Archives. 


THE    CLERGY  IN    THE  REVOLUTION  303 

except  a  Virginian  equestrian  ;  and  he  spent  Sunday 
afternoons,  alone  and  unapproachable,  in  his  library. 
In  war  he  found  time  for  daily  prayer  and  meditation,  (as, 
by  no  wish  of  his,  the  absence  of  privacy,  which  is  a 
feature  in  camp  life,  revealed  to  those  who  were  imme- 
diately about  him  ;)  he  attended  public  worship  himself ; 
and  by  every  available  means  he  encouraged  the  practice 
of  religion  in  his  soldiers,  to  whom  he  habitually  stood 
in  a  kind  of  fatherly  relation.  There  are  many  pages 
in  his  Orderly  Books  which  indicate  a  determination  that 
the  multitude  of  young  fellows,  who  were  entrusted  to 
his  charge,  should  have  all  possible  facilities  for  being 
as  well-behaved  as  in  their  native  villages.^  It  therefore 
was  the  more  noticeable  that  he  ceased  to  be  a  regular 
Communicant  as  long  as  the  war  lasted.  Washington 
always  had  his  reasons  for  what  he  did,  or  left  undone ; 
but  he  seldom  gave  them  ;  and  his  motive  for  abstaining 
from  the  Sacrament  was  not  a  subject  on  which  he 
would  be  inclined  to  break  his  ordinary  rule  of  reticence. 
On  one  occasion  during  his  campaigns  he  is  known  to 
have  taken  the  Communion  under  circumstances  which 
throw  some  light  upon  his  inward  convictions.  While 
the  army  was  quartered  at  Morristown,  the  Presbyterians 
of  the  place  were  about  to  hold  their  half-yearly  admin- 
istration. Washington  paid  a  visit  to  their  minister,  and 
enquired  whether  it  accorded  with  the  canon  of  his 
Church  to  admit  Communicants  of  another  denomination. 
"  Most  certainly,"  the  clergyman  answered.  "  Ours  is 
not  the  Presbyterian  table,  General,  but  the  Lord's  table." 
"  I  am  glad  of  it,"  said  Washington.  "  That  is  as  it 
ought  to  be.     Though  a  member  of  the  Church  of  P3ng- 

1  The  troops  were  excused  fatigue-duty  in  order  that  they  miglit  nut  miss 
church.  If  public  worship  was  interrupted  on  a  Sunday  by  the  call  to  aims, 
a  service  was  held  on  a  convenient  day  in  the  ensuing  week.  The  chap- 
lains were  exhorted  to  urge  the  soldiers  that  they  ought  to  live  and  act  like 
Christian  men  in  times  of  distress  and  danger;  and  after  every  great 
victory,  and  more  particularly  at  the  linal  i)roclamation  of  Peace,  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief earnestly  recommended  that  the  army  should  universally 
attend  the  rendering  of  thanks  to  Almighty  God  "with  seriousness  of 
deportment,  and  gratitude  of  heart." 


304 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


land,  I  have  no  exclusive  partialities."  And  accordingly 
on  the  next  Sunday  he  took  his  place  among  the  Com- 
municants. 

Washington  loved  his  own  Church  the  best,  and  had 
no  mind  to  leave  it ;  but  he  was  not  hostile  to  any  faith 
which  was  sincerely  held,  and  which  exerted  a  restraining 
and  correcting  influence  upon  human  conduct.  "  I  am 
disposed,"  (he  once  told  Lafayette,)  "to  indulge  the 
professors  of  Christianity  with  that  road  to  Heaven  which 
to  them  shall  seem  the  most  direct,  plainest,  easiest,  and 
least  liable  to  exception."  His  feeling  on  this  matter 
was  accurately  expressed  in  the  instructions  which  he 
wrote  out  for  Benedict  Arnold,  when  that  officer  led  an 
armed  force  of  fierce  and  stern  New  England  Protestants 
against  the  Roman  Catholic  settlements  in  Canada.  The 
whole  paper  was  a  lesson  in  the  statesmanship  which  is 
founded  on  respect  and  consideration  for  others,  and  still 
remains  well  worth  reading. ^  In  after  years,  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  Washington  enjoyed  frequent 
opportunities  for  impressing  his  own  sentiments  and 
policy,  in  all  that  related  to  religion,  upon  the  attention 
of  his  compatriots.  The  Churches  of  America  were 
never  tired  of  framing  and  presenting  Addresses  which 
assured  him  of  their  confidence,  veneration,  and  sympa- 
thy ;  and  he  as  invariably  replied  by  congratulating  them 
that  in  their  happy  country  worship  was  free,  and  that 
men  of  every  creed  were  eligible  to  every  post  of  honour 
and  authority.^ 

Washington's  views  were  shared  by  most  Virginians 
of  his  class  and  epoch.     On  the  twelfth  of  June,  1776, 

1  Section  fourteen  of  the  Instructions  to  Colonel  Benedict  Arnold  of 
September  1775.      The  Writings  of  George  Washington,  Vol.  III.,  page  89. 

2  "  We  have  abundant  reason  to  rejoice,"  (so,  in  January  1793,  the 
President  tuld  the  Members  of  the  New  Church  of  Baltimore,)  "  that  every 
person  may  here  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  heart. 
In  this  enlightened  age,  and  in  this  land  of  equal  liberty,  it  is  our  boast 
thnt  a  man's  religious  tenets  will  not  forfeit  the  protection  of  the  laws,  nor 
deprive  him  of  the  right  of  attaining,  and  of  holding,  the  highest  offices 
that  are  known  in  the  United  States." 


THE  FINAL   SETTLEMENT  305 

the  Convention  at  Williamsburg,  with  no  dissenting 
voice,  adopted  their  celebrated  Declaration  of  Rights, 
of  which  the  Sixteenth  Article  asserted  the  doctrine  of 
Religious  Liberty  with  eloquence  and  precision.  The 
original  draft  contained  a  pronouncement  in  favour  of 
Toleration ;  but  that  equivocal  word  was  expunged  at 
the  instance  of  James  Madison,  afterwards  the  fourth 
President  of  the  United  States.  Toleration,  (Madison 
argued,)  belonged  to  a  community  where  there  was  an 
established  church,  and  where  a  limited  freedom  of 
worship  was  conceded  by  grace,  and  not  of  right.  At 
the  very  moment  when  that  Sixteenth  Article  was 
under  discussion  before  the  Convention,  the  Virginian 
Baptists,  —  whose  preachers,  up  to  a  quite  recent  date, 
had  been  in  and  out  of  prison  as  criminals,  —  were 
carrying  round  for  signature  a  petition  praying  that 
they  might  "be  allowed  to  worship  God  in  their  own 
way,  without  interruption."  So  suddenly  had  the  air  in 
the  Old  Dominion  been  cleared  and  purified  by  the 
explosion  of  gunpowder;  and  so  decisively  had  the 
public  mind  judged  and  condemned  the  existing  system 
of  ecclesiastical  predominance,  even  before  there  had 
been  time  to  abrogate  it  by  law.  The  Virginian  Con- 
vention could  only  proceed  by  Resolution ;  but  half- 
way through  1776  it  ceased  to  sit,  and  the  first  State 
Legislature  was  duly  elected  and  assembled  under  the 
terms  of  the  new  Constitution.  An  Act  was  at  once 
passed  relieving  Dissenters  from  Church-taxes ;  and 
another  Statute  suspended  the  payment  of  salaries  to 
the  Established  clergy.  That  provisional  arrangement 
was  confirmed  and  perpetuated  by  a  succession  of 
enactments,  which  finally  culminated  in  a  famous  law, 
the  model  of  its  kind,  entitled  "  An  Act  for  establishing 
Religious  Freedom  in  the  State  of  Virginia." 

Virginia's  example  was  more  or  less  speedily  followed 
by  all  the  provinces.  When  the  Revolution  began,  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Propagation  Society,  in  certain  counties 
of  Delaware,  told  all,  who  wished  to  listen,  that  the 
political  agitation  against  the   Royal  Government   had 


306  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

been  deliberately  planned  by  Presbyterians  with  the 
object  of  getting  their  own  religion  established  ;  that  it 
originated  in  New  England ;  and  that  it  was  fostered 
and  abetted  by  the  Presbyterians  in  every  colony.^  The 
event  triumphantly  refuted  that  idle  and  gratuitous  cal- 
umny. Whatever  questionable  maxim  might  thereafter 
come  to  be  adopted  by  Americans  in  their  secular  politics, 
the  sons  of  the  Puritans  had  not  fought  the  war  in  order 
that  religious  endowments  and  privileges  might  be  spoil 
for  the  victors.  The  Church  of  England  was  disestab- 
lished in  the  Southern  Plantations  not  from  greed  or 
mahce,  but  on  principle  ;  and  the  predominant  Churches 
in  the  North  applied  that  principle  consistently,  unspar- 
ingly, and  honestly  to  themselves.  So  great  a  sacrifice 
was  not  made  everywhere  at  once,  nor  without  searching 
of  heart,  nor,  (in  some  instances,)  without  keen  regret; 
but  within  the  second  generation  after  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  the  last  vestige  of  connection  between 
Church  and  State  had  ceased  to  exist  in  every  province 
of  the  Union.  Long  before  that  period  arrived,  the  col- 
lective will  of  the  American  people  had  been  announced 
in  language  which  there  was  no  mistaking.  The  Federal 
Constitution  was  the  work  of  statesmen  among  whom 
there  were  some  very  briUiant  and  profuse  orators ;  but 
they  did  not  seek  to  display  their  gifts  in  the  treatment 
of  a  theme  which  can  dispense  with  the  aid  of  rhetoric. 
They  thought  it  enough  to  enact,  first,  that  no  Rehgious 
Test  should  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any 
office,  or  pubhc  trust,  under  the  United  States;  and, 
then,  that  Congress  should  make  no  law  respecting  an 
Establishment  of  Religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exer- 
cise thereof.  Those  were  few  and  simple  words  ;  but 
they  covered  the  whole  ground  of  the  most  universal, 
and  the  most  vital,  of  all  controversies.  Thus  it  came 
about  that  America,  (as  one  of  her  historians  proudly 
notes,)  from  the  very  commencement  of  her  national  life 
ordained  throughout  the  land  full  liberty  of  mind,  con- 
science, and  worship,  and  exphcitly  forbade  any  unwar- 

1  John  Adams  to  Thomas  McKean;   Philadelphia,  15  November,  1815. 


THE  FINAL   SETTLEMENT 


307 


ranted  intrusion  of  human  authority  into  realms  where 
the  Divine  sovereignty  should  alone  hold  sway.^ 

Americans  are  firmly  persuaded  that  a  great  service 
was  rendered  to  the  cause  of  true  religion  when  all  their 
Churches  were  directed  into  the  paths  of  independence, 
self-reliance,  and  perfect  equality  before  the  law.  That 
belief  has  been  shared  by  a  deeply  read  and  widely 
observant  writer  who  was  not  an  American.  De  Tocque- 
ville  said  that  he  knew  of  no  nation  in  the  whole  world 
where  religion  retained  a  stronger  influence  than  in  the 
United  States ;  for,  by  regulating  domestic  life,  it  regu- 
lated the  Commonwealth,  and  was  the  most  important 
among  the  institutions  of  the  country.  The  truth  of  that 
remark  may  be  disputable ;  or,  at  least,  it  has  been  dis- 
puted ;  but  it  is  an  historical  fact  that  religious  equality 
made  for  peace  and  mutual  charity  between  Church  and 
Church  in  the  United  States  all  through  the  first  century 
of  their  federal  existence.  During  that  extended  period, 
(whatever  may  be  the  case  now,  or  hereafter,)  matters  of 
religion  were  entirely  removed  from  the  political  arena, 
and  were  arranged,  —  with  no  opposition,  and  very  little 
adverse  comment,  on  the  part  of  the  outside  public,  —  by 
the  governing  powers  of  that  sect  or  denomination  which 
on  each  occasion  was  specially  and  solely  concerned. 

Earliest  and  foremost  among  the  ecclesiastical  prob- 
lems which  were  quietly,  and  permanently,  solved  was 
the  long-vexed  question  of  American  bishops.  With 
characteristic  energy  and  boldness  John  Wesley  was 
the  first  in  a  field  where  all  were  now  at  liberty  to 
tread.  The  American  Methodists  had  increased,  dur- 
ing the  ten  years  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  from 
two  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  ;  and  their  preachers 
were  counted  by  scores  and  hundreds.  Hardly  any  of 
those  preachers,  however,  were  clergymen  ;  for  during 
the  war  it  was  too  dangerous,  and  for  such  humble 
people  it  had  always  been  too  expensive,  to  go  in  quest 
of  ordination  across  the  Atlantic.  Fit  candidates,  indeed, 
were  not  wanting  in  England  who  would  promise  to  sail 

1  Mr.  Sandford  Cobb's  History  of  Keligious  l.iberly  ;  paf^es  5  and  509. 

X  2 


308 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


for  the  Western  Continent  after  having  been  admitted 
to  orders ;  but  the  English  bishops  did  not  care  to  com- 
bat the  spiritual  desolation  of  America,  which  in  their 
sermons  they  were  accustomed  to  deplore,  by  the  aid  of 
any  such  auxiliaries.  Wesley  himself  entreated  Doctor 
Lowth,  the  Bishop  of  London,  to  ordain  one  of  these 
Methodist  preachers;  but  his  application  was  refused. 
"Your  Lordship  observes,"  (so  Wesley  wrote  back,) 
"  that  there  are  three  ministers  in  that  country  already. 
True,  my  Lord :  but  what  are  three  to  watch  over  the 
souls  in  that  extensive  country.?  Will  your  Lordship 
permit  me  to  speak  freely }  "  And  then,  without  wait- 
ing for  that  permission,  Wesley  proceeded  to  remonstrate 
with  the  bishop  for  approving  candidates  who  possessed 
a  smattering  of  the  classics,  and  who  had  mastered  a 
few  trite  points  in  the  science  of  divinity,  while  he  never 
enquired  whether  they  loved  God  or  the  world,  and 
whether  they  had  any  real  desire  to  save  their  own 
souls,  and  the  souls  of  others.  "  But  your  Lordship 
did  see  good  to  ordain,  and  send  to  America,  other 
persons  who  knew  something  of  Greek  and  Latin,  but 
knew  no  more  of  saving  souls  than  of  catching  whales." 
John  Wesley  was  not  the  man  to  accept  a  rebuff, 
which  at  the  same  time  was  an  almost  fatal  blow  to  the 
cause  whereon  the  labours  of  his  life  had  been  spent. 
If  his  ecclesiastical  superiors  would  not  come  to  the  res- 
cue, he  was  himself,  in  the  last  resort,  prepared  with  a 
remedy.  So  far  back  as  the  year  1761  he  had  emitted 
an  opinion  that  a  behef  in  the  exclusive  validity  of 
Episcopal  ordination  was  an  entire  mistake.  He  called 
himself,  in  so  many  words,  a  High  Churchman ;  but  he 
was  far  from  orthodox  on  the  doctrine  of  the  ApostoHc 
Succession.  Perhaps  he  thought  that  the  chain  of  con- 
tinuity had  been  already  severed ;  perhaps  he  doubted 
whether  it  was  worth  preserving  intact ;  and  he  accord- 
ingly resolved  to  look  around,  on  his  own  account,  for 
some  one  endowed  with  the  qualifications  required  of  a 
bishop  in  the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy.  He  found  what 
he  wanted  in   Doctor  Thomas  Coke.     That  able  and 


THE  FINAL   SETTLEMENT 


309 


devoted,  though  not  unambitious,  divine  had  once  been 
a  Gentleman  Commoner  at  Oxford,  and  subsequently- 
held  a  benefice  in  the  West  of  England.  There  he  had 
sought  out  John  Wesley,  and  confided  to  him  a  doubt 
whether  clergymen  were  justified  in  Hmiting  their  ad- 
ministrations to  a  single  congregation.  "  Go  out, 
Brother!  "  answered  Wesley.  "Go  out  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  all  the  world!"  The  time  had  now  arrived 
when  a  notable  effect  was  given  to  this  solemn  injunc- 
tion. In  the  autumn  of  1784,  at  Bristol,  in  a  private 
room,  Wesley  laid  his  hands  upon  the  head  of  his  friend, 
and  set  him  apart  as  an  overseer  of  the  Methodist 
Churches  in  America,  with  a  commission  to  ordain 
proper  persons  to  the  ministry.  With  Thomas  Coke 
was  associated  Francis  Asbury,  who  had  been  the  pio- 
neer of  Methodism  in  America  ;  a  man  who  did  not  seek, 
ind  who  had  led  a  life  which  was  above,  worldly  praise. 
vVesley  called  his  two  delegates  by  the  name  of  superin- 
tendents ;  but  they  exercised  Episcopal  functions,  and 
they  speedily  assumed  the  Episcopal  title;  for  in  May 
1787  they  addressed  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States  a  Memorial  commencing  with  the  words,  "We 
the  Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  ^ 

Coke  and  Asbury  soon  had  colleagues  in  their  digni- 
fied office,  and  many  colleagues ;  for  their  Church 
increased  in  numbers,  wealth,  and  repute  with  extraor- 
dinary rapidity.  The  Roman  Catholics  in  the  States 
were  erelong  provided  with  Bishops,  and  Archbishops, 
and,  (in  the  fullness  of  time,)  a  Cardinal ;  but  no  eccle- 
siastical body  gained  so  much  by  the  establishment  of 
Religious  Liberty  and  Equality  as  the  Church  which 
had  been  entitled  the  Church  of  England  so  long  as  the 
English  connection  lasted.^  Up  to  the  Revolution  the 
members  of  that  body  had  been  Episcopalians  without 

^  Tyerman's  Life  and  Times  of  John  VVesley  ;  Vol.  III.,  pages  214,  and 
433  to  437.  Pages  249  and  250  contain  a  sketch  of  Francis  .\sl)ury's 
careor;  a  record  which  is  the  more  valual)le  because  that  hi^h-niiiKlfd, 
and,  (in  this  respect  especially,)  exem])lary  man  forl)ade  any  biography  of 
himself  to  h<*  published  ;  — an  order  which  was  not  disol)eyed. 

2  Dean  Tucker  of  Gloucester  had  foretold  that  result  thirteen   years 


3IO 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


a  bishop,  to  their  own  infinite  loss  and  inconvenience-, 
and  the  obstinate  determination  of  all  the  other  Churches 
to  keep  them  in  that  condition  of  disadvantage,  though 
not  without  excuse,  had  fostered  very  uncharitable  and 
unchristian  feelings  in  the  religious  world  of  America. 
After   the    Revolution,   however,  the    grievance   under 
which  the  Episcopahans  had  so  long  suffered  was  re- 
moved with  the  willing  assent  of  all,  and  the  hearty  and 
helpful  concurrence  of  some  who   had  figured  among 
the  most  eminent  and  formidable  opponents  of  the  Brit- 
ish Government.     John  Adams,  as  the  first  American 
Envoy  at  the  Court  of  St.  James's,  was  both  active  and 
discreet  in  his  efforts   to  promote  the  consecration  of 
American    bishops   in    London.       Benjamin    Franklin, 
though  himself  no  great  church-goer,  had  all  through 
life  been  very  ready  to  give  advice  upon  religious  mat- 
ters, and  sometimes  to  volunteer  it  in  quarters  where 
it  was  not  acceptable.     He  had  been  the  prime  mover 
in  equipping  Philadelphia  with  a  non-sectarian  meeting- 
house, for  the  use  of  any  preacher  of  any  persuasion. 
Sectarian  places  of  worship  he  seldom  entered;  (for  he 
complained  that  the  minister  aimed  at  making  his  hearers 
good  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  rather  than 
good  citizens ;)  but  he  taught  his  neighbours  how  to  fit 
their  steeples  with  lightning-conductors,  and  there  was 
no  end  to  the  conspicuously  unselfish  trouble  which  he 
took   in    helping   them   to    warm    the   inside    of    their 
churches.     His  interest  in  other  people's  religion  once 
carried  him  so  far  that  he  assisted  a  Noble  Lord  of  his 
acquaintance  to  abridge  the  Anglican  Liturgy ;  but  that 
was  almost  the  only  unsuccessful  venture  of  his  enter- 
prising career,  inasmuch  as  very  few  copies  were  sold, 
and  the  bulk  became  waste  paper.^ 

before  it  happened.     A  very  curious  passage  from  his  pen  is  printed  in  the 
Fourth  Appendix  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 

1  Letter  from  Franklin  printed  in  the  Memoirs  of  Grativille  Sharp, 
Esq.  ;  Part  II..  chapter  vi.  Franklin  attributed  the  failure  of  the  book  to 
his  noble  collaborator,  who  had  abridged  the  Prayers  very  badly.  He 
himself  had  undertaken  only  the  Catechism,  and  the  reading  and  singing 
Psalms.     Franklin  had  suffered,  very  early  in  life,  for  his  zeal  in  endeav- 


THE  FINAL   SETTLEMENT  311 

Franklin  had  always  desired  to  see  the  controversy 
about  American  bishops  settled  upon  equitable  and 
reasonable  terms ;  he  was  ashamed  of  the  evil-speaking 
and  ill-temper  which  the  dispute  provoked  ;  ^  and,  when 
the  war  had  terminated,  he  did  all  he  could  to  assist 
the  Episcopalians  in  the  accomplishment  of  their  wishes. 
On  their  behalf  he  knocked  at  many  doors.  He  in- 
quired of  the  Pope's  Nuncio  at  Paris  whether  candidates 
might  be  ordained  as  Protestant  clergymen  by  the 
Roman  Catholic  bishop  in  America ;  but  to  get  such 
a  prayer  granted  was  beyond  even  Franklin's  powers 
of  persuasion.^  He  then  advised  that  recourse  should 
be  had  to  Frederic  Augustus  Hervcy,  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  Derry  in  Ireland,  whom  he  described,  most  assuredly 
in  no  exaggerated  terms,  as  "  a  man  of  liberal  senti- 
ments." He  suggested  an  application  to  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal authorities  in  Sweden  and  Denmark ;  and,  if  all  else 
failed,  he  recommended  American  Episcopalians,  after 
the  example  of  the  primitive  Christian  Church  in  Scot- 
land, to  elect  and  induct  a  bishop  for  themselves.  A 
hundred  years  from  that  date,  (Franklin  said,)  it  would 
seem  inconceivable  that  men,  qualified  by  their  learning 
and  piety  to  pray  for  and  instruct  their  fellows,  should 
not  have  been  permitted  so  to  do  until  they  had  made 
a  voyage  of  six  thousand  miles  out  and  home,  in  order 
to  ask  leave  of  a  cross  old  gentleman  at  Canterbury.^ 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  American  Episcopalians  that 

curing  to  curtail  religious  ceremonies;  for,  after  the  manner  of  most 
reformers,  he  began  young,  and  began  on  his  father.  ( Hd  Mr.  Franklin 
was  packing  a  barrel  of  beef  in  the  cellar;  and  Benjamin  suggested  that 
time  would  be  saved  in  the  future  by  asking  a  blessing,  once  for  all,  over 
the  whole  barrel. 

1  Franklin  wrote  to  his  sister  from  England  on  this  subject  in  February 
1769.  "  Your  squabl)les  about  a  bishop,"  he  said,  "  I  wish  to  see  speedily 
ended.  ...  1  do  not  conceive  that  bishops  residing  in  America  would 
either  be  of  such  advantage  to  Kpiscopalians,  or  such  disadvantage  to 
anti-Episcopalians,  as  either  seem  to  imagine.  Each  jiarty  abuses  the 
other.     The   profane   and   infidel   believe   both  sides,  and  enjoy  the  fray." 

2  "The  thing  is  impossible,"  said  the  Nuncio,  "  unless  the  gentknun 
become  Catholics." 

«  Franklin  to  Messrs.  Wecms  and  Cant ;    Passy,  18  July,  1784. 


312  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

their  cause  had  been  espoused  by  a  more  suitable  cham« 
pion  than  Benjamin  Franklin.  For  a  good  many  years 
past  their  unhappy  condition  had  appealed  to  a  man 
whose  sympathy  was  never  a  barren  or  idle  emotion. 
Granville  Sharp  possessed  rare  qualifications  for  the 
office  of  a  mediator  between  the  mother-country  and 
her  former  colonies.  His  upright  character,  and  ear- 
nest piety,  secured  for  him  the  confidence  of  every  sin- 
cere and  devout  member  of  the  Church  of  England ; 
and  the  most  vindictive  Whigs  of  Massachusetts  or  Vir- 
ginia could  not  forget  that,  in  the  crisis  of  the  recent 
struggle,  he  had  accepted  poverty  rather  than  consent 
to  raise  his  hand  against  the  American  cause.  Stand- 
ing between  the  two  parties,  and  revered  by  both, 
Granville  Sharp  adjured  the  Congregationalists  and 
Presbyterians  of  the  United  States  not  to  grudge  their 
Episcopalian  fellow-citizens  a  boon  which  was  their  un- 
doubted right,  and  essential  to  their  welfare ;  he  stirred 
the  conscience  of  those  among  the  English  bishops  who 
had  grown  lukewarm  towards  the  Church  in  America 
ever  since  they  had  been  forced  to  abandon  the  hope 
of  seeing  it  established,  and  regnant,  throughout  that 
country ;  and  he  quickened  the  pace  of  the  British  Par- 
Hament  which,  after  its  fashion,  preferred  to  move  by 
easy  stages.  Our  laws  forbade  the  ordination  of  any 
candidate,  who  found  himself  unable  to  take  the  Oath 
of  Allegiance  to  the  King;  and  in  May  1784  an  Act 
was  passed,  dispensing  with  this  obHgation  in  the  case 
of  priests  and  deacons  who  were  not  the  King's  subjects. 
No  clergyman,  however,  who  declined  to  swear  could 
be  consecrated  as  a  bishop  ;  and  accordingly  it  was  ob- 
vious that  in  the  United  States  bishops  there  could  be 
none.  An  aspirant  for  orders  must  still  cross  the 
Atlantic,  or  remain  a  layman ;  and  the  Church  in 
America,  although  in  no  worse,  nevertheless  was  as  yet 
in  no  better,  position  than  in  the  old  days  before  the 
Revolution. 

The  existing  conditions  were  intolerable,  and  the  pros- 
pect of  improvement  small.     Lord  Chancellor  Thurlow, 


THE  FINAL   SETTLEMENT 


313 


the  most  potent  force  in  Pitt's  Cabinet  on  questions 
which  touched  the  Church  and  involved  the  law,  held 
that  concession  had  gone  too  far  already,  and  set  his  face 
stiffly  against  all  further  progress.  But  a  still  stronger, 
and  a  much  better,  man  than  Thurlow  at  this  critical 
moment  made  his  appearance  on  the  scene.  This  was 
Doctor  Seabury,  who,  under  the  name  of  a  Westchester 
Farmer,  wrote  with  so  much  wit  and  fire  against  the 
American  Revolution  during  its  earHer  stages ;  and 
who,  in  the  interval  between  two  fierce  battles,  had 
preached  in  General  Howe's  camp  on  the  duty  of  fear- 
ing God  and  honouring  the  King.  In  the  course  of  the 
war,  Seabury  had  been  ruthlessly  used  by  political 
opponents  who  were  his  implacable  personal  enemies. 
He  had  been  despoiled  of  almost  everything  else  that 
belonged  to  him ;  but  he  had  retained,  and  increased, 
the  respectful  admiration  with  which  he  was  regarded 
by  good  men  of  all  parties  among  his  compatriots.  In 
the  spring  of  1783,  (so  we  are  told,)  a  little  company  of 
the  clergy, — men  as  noble  as  ever  manned  a  forlorn 
hope,  or  went  down  to  ruin  for  a  sacred  idea,  —  as- 
sembled in  a  lonely  Connecticut  parsonage,  solemnly 
designated  Samuel  Seabury  as  the  first  bishop  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  and  requested  him  to  go 
to  England  for  consecration.^ 

To  England  he  went ;  and  there  he  was  told  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  that  the  object  which  the 
Church  in  Connecticut  sought  was  greatly  to  be  desired, 
but  that  the  difficulties  were  insuperable.  "  If  your 
Grace,"  replied  Seabury,  "will  not  grant  me  consecra- 
tion, I  know  where  to  obtain  it."  He  left  the  room 
abruptly,  and  started  forthwith  for  Aberdeen  ;  and  he 
was  there  admitted  as  a  bishop  by  three  non-juring  pre- 
lates of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church.^  Shortly  after- 
wards the  King  of  Denmark  ordered  Mr.  John  Adams 
to  be  informed  that  the  Danish  bishops  were  prepared 
to  ordain  any  American  of  proper  qualities,  and  good 

'  Tyler's  Literary  History  ;  Vol.  I.,  chapter  xv.,  section  vii. 
2  Memoirs  of  Granville  Sharp  ;  Part  II.,  chapters  vi.  and  vii. 


314  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

character,  who  would  subscribe  the  Articles  of  the 
Church  of  England.  His  Majesty,  moreover,  intimated 
his  willingness  to  set  up  a  bishopric  in  one  of  the  West 
Indian  Islands  which  belonged  to  Denmark,  so  that  the 
candidates  for  orders  might  find  facilities  within  a  com- 
paratively short  distance  from  their  native  shores.  This 
announcement  brought  matters  to  an  issue. ^  The 
knowledge  that,  in  more  than  one  quarter,  there  was 
competition  for  the  future  good  graces  of  the  Church  in 
the  United  States  produced  an  immediate  effect  on  the 
British  Cabinet,  and  on  the  Episcopal  Bench  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  In  the  Spring  Session  of  1786  a 
Statute  was  passed  which  allowed  the  Oath  of  Alle- 
giance to  be  omitted  at  the  Consecration  of  Bishops 
who  were  citizens  of  foreign  countries ;  ^  and,  in  Febru- 
ary 1787,  Granville  Sharp  enjoyed  the  well-deserved 
satisfaction  of  conducting  two  American  clergymen  to 
Lambeth  for  consecration.  Before  the  close  of  the 
nineteenth  century  there  were  eighty  bishops,  in  com- 
munion with  the  Church  of  England,  on  that  soil  where 
not  a  single  one  had  been  able  to  show  his  face  until 
the  establishment  of  National  Independence  deadened 
the  memories,  and  soothed  the  apprehensions,  which  the 
Episcopal  title  formerly  excited  in  an  American's  mind. 
A  bishop,  from  that  time  forwards,  was  regarded  as  the 
freely  chosen  administrator  and  rector  of  a  self-govern- 
ing religious  body ;  and  no  longer  as  the  emissary  of  a 
militant  State  Church  beyond  the  seas,  which  was 
abetted  in  all  its  invasions  and  encroachments  by  those 
Royal  governors  who  wielded  the  authority  of  the  Crown. 

1  John  Adams  had  been  in  correspondence  with  the  Danish  Govern- 
ment with  reference  to  the  ordination  of  an  American  student  of  divinity, 
named  Mason  Weems.  When  a  favourable  answer  came  from  Copen- 
hagen, it  was  communicated  to  Mr.  Weems  ;  "  and,"  wrote  Adams,  "  it 
soon  procured  him  a  more  polite  reception  from  the  English  clerg)'.  In- 
deed, it  laid  the  foundation  of  not  only  Mr.  Weems's  ordination,  but  of 
the  whole  system  of  Episcopacy  in  the  United  States." 

■^•'An  Act  to  empower  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  or  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  for  the  time  being,  to  consecrate  to  the  Office  of  a  Bishop 
persons  being  Subjects  or  Citizens  of  Countries  out  of  His  Majesty's 
Dominions." 


APPENDICES 

APPENDIX   I 

See  page  140 

Extracts  from  Lieutenant-  Colonel  Markham's  Journal 

"On  January  first,  1777,  an  express  arrived  to  me  at  Spank- 
town,  containing  orders  to  march  immediately  to  join  General 
Matthew  who  commands  at  Brunswick,  and  to  leave  only  an 
officer  and  thirty  men  to  protect  my  baggage  during  my 
absence.  As  it  was  late  before  the  order  arrived,  it  was  two 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  before  I  began  my  march.  At  this 
time  there  was  a  general  thaw,  and  cold  raw  wind  with  sleet 
and  rain.  It  was  a  very  dark  night,  and  we  were  up  to  our 
knees  in  mire  ;  crossing  waters  ot  mill-dams ;  every  now  and 
then  walking  over  sheets  of  ice ;  officers  and  men  continually 
tumbling.  I  myself  had  I  know  not  how  many  falls,  every 
moment  expecting  to  be  attacked  by  the  rebels.  I  never  was 
more  fatigued.  At  last  I  could  scarcely  move.  General 
Matthew  sent  an  officer  to  meet  me,  to  show  me  his  quarters, 
to  which  I  was  just  able  to  crawl.  The  General  asked  me  if 
we  were  not  in  want  of  some  refreshment.  I  then  plainly 
told  him  we  had  neither  food  nor  liquor,  and  he  very  politely 
told  me  we  should  be  supplied  with  both.  He  pressed  me  to 
sup  with  him ;  which  I  declined,  as  I  wanted  rest  more  than 
anything  else.  Exhausted  as  I  was,  though  my  spirits  were 
still  good,  I  crawled  back  to  my  quarters,  where  the  (General 
sent  me  a  large  piece  of  roast  beef,  one  ditto  boiled,  a  roast 
goose,  and  a  dozen  bottles  of  Madeira,  port,  and  rum.  This 
was  a  prodigious  relief  to  us.  I  got  to  bed  about  twelve 
o'clock,  but  too  tired  to  sleep.  At  about  one  o'clock  the 
General  called  upon  me  to  tell  me  he  had  just  received  orders 
to  march  instantly  to  Brunswick,  and  for  this  purpose  I  was 

3'5 


3l6  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

to  form  a  battalion  as  soon  as  possible,  and  cross  the  bridge 
over  the  river,  drawing  up  on  the  other  side,  to  cover  the 
bridge,  while  the  cannon,  stores,  and  baggage,  were  crossed 
over.  At  about  six  in  the  morning  we  got  to  Brunswick,  the 
road  being  as  bad  as  that  over  which  we  had  before  marched. 
I  was  now  as  much  dead  as  ahve  ;  however  my  spirits  did 
not  fail  me.  We  occupied  the  first  houses  at  the  end  of  the 
town,  where  the  enemy  was  expected  to  attack,  without  taking 
off  our  accoutrements  until  eight  in  the  morning." 

"  My  company  lost  a  waggon  loaded  with  baggage,  by 
neglecting  to  protect  it,  and  suffering  the  Yankee  driver, 
(who,  I  suppose  through  fright,  drove  it  off,)  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  rebels.  They  had  small  parties  skulking  about 
us.  My  Lieutenant  has  lost  all  his  baggage  by  this  unlucky 
hit.  I  am  the  more  concerned  for  his  loss,  as  he  is  only  a 
soldier  of  fortune,  and  therefore  can  ill  afford  it.  I  felt,  I 
think,  what  I  should  do  if  I  was  rich.  His  loss  is,  I  believe, 
about  120/.  Did  the  King  know  it,  I  am  sure  he  is  too  good 
to  let  him  be  a  sufferer.  The  only  posts  we  now  possess  in 
the  Jerseys  are  Paulus  Hook,  Perth  Amboy,  Bonnum  Town, 
the  Raritan  landing-place,  and  Brunswick.  Happy  had  it 
been  if  at  first  we  had  fixed  upon  no  other  posts  in  this 
province  !  Before,  our  line  was  ninety  miles  long,  which  we 
had  to  defend,  and  our  small  number  of  scattered  troops 
formed  too  weak  a  chain.  This  post  of  Perth  Amboy  is  far 
from  being  a  good  one,  should  Washington  attack  us.  There 
is  no  market  here ;  and  all  we  have  to  trust  to  is  the  King's 
allowance  of  provisions.  The  rebels  here  spread  themselves 
all  over  the  country,  so  that  we  cannot  go  beyond  our  sentries 
with  any  degree  of  safety." 


APPENDIX   n 

See  page  220 


The  correspondent  of  a  London  newspaper,  in  January 
1776,  represents  himself  as  having  dined  at  the  house  of  a 
worthy  gentleman  in  the  West  of  England  who,  "  for  the  sake  of 
good  neighbourhood,  endeavoured  to  make  his  table  a  neutral 


APPENDICES  317 

ground  for  such  of  his  friends  as  could  calmly  communicate 
over  a  turkey  and  chine,  and  a  cheerful  glass,  without  draw- 
ing daggers  for  Whig  and  Tory."  A  personage,  who  is 
identified  as  the  First  Member  of  Parliament,  regretted  that 
more  attention  had  not  been  paid,  either  in  the  passing 
Session,  or  in  the  last,  to  the  Petition  from  the  merchants  and 
planters  of  our  Sugar  Islands. 

Second  Member :  "  Pshaw  !  I  know  nothing  of  this  Session, 
as  it  began  in  the  hunting  season  ;  but  I  remember  very  well 
what  we  thought  of  their  petition  last  year.  We  determined  to 
give  them  a  hearing  for  form's  sake,  but  not  till  we  had  settled 
how  the  business  would  go." 

Third  Member :  "Aye,  aye.  It  signifies  nothing  what  they 
says  upon  the  matter.  I  am  sure,  (and  I  shall  never  alter  my 
mind,)  we  were  right.  These  Americans  must  be  conquered, 
and  must  be  taxed  too.  Why  should  we  pay  for  they  ?  They 
have  cost  us  a  world  of  trouble,  and  never  brought  us  anything 
but  vexation." 

Bristol  Gentleman  :  "  But  how  do  you  reconcile  it  to  equity 
to  tax  people  who  have  no  representatives  among  you  ?  " 

Third  Member :  "Representatives  ?  Why,  hasn't  we  passed 
Resolutions  that  we  does  represent  them  ?  And  hasn't  the 
Declaratory  Act  setded  the  right,  and  power,  and  all  that  ? 
What  dost  talk  of  equity  for?  Ha'nt  we  sent  over  the  fleet 
and  the  army  to  setde  everything  ?  We  represents  'em  all, 
every  one  of  'em,  be  sure." 

First  Member :  "I  protest,  I  cannot  help  fairly  acknowledg- 
ing that  I  do  not  represent  them  ;  for  I  was  not  elected,  nor 
returned,  by  any  of  them.  I  cannot  conceive  how  our  friend 
here,  that  does  not  so  much  as  know  what  part  of  the  world 
they  are  in,  should  fancy  himself  their  Rejjresentative." 

Third  Member :  Pooh  !  I  knows  well  enough  in  the  main. 
We  was  fools  for  taking  'em  from  the  French  and  Spanish,  all 
along  of  that  old  fellow  Pitt  ;  and  I  with  all  my  heart  wish  they 
had  them,  and  Hanover  too,  back  again." 

Bristol  Gentleman:  "Have  you  ever  delivered  your  senti- 
ments in  the  House,  Sir,  on  this  subject  ?  " 

Second  Member:  "  No,  damme,  he  never  speaks  further  than 
aye  or  no.  He's  wiser  than  some  folks  in  that.  I  s])outed 
away  once  or  twice ;  but  it  did  not  signify  much,  though  my 
Lord  North, spoke  to  me  very  kindly  upon  it." 


3l8  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Third  Member:  "  Aye,  aye  ;  you  spout  away  finely  ;  but  I 
believe  I  gets  as  much  for  my  silence  as  you  does  for  your 
speechifying.  The  main  thing  is  to  know  which  is  the  right 
side  of  the  question,  and  that  I'm  never  out  in.  If  I  was  Lord 
North,  as  soon  as  I  had  told  'em  my  mind,  I'd  make  old 
Perriwig  pop  the  question  directly;  and  then  I'm  sure  and 
sartin  we  might  go  to  dinner  every  day  at  four  o'clock,  and 
have  the  rest  of  the  evening  to  ourselves,  instead  of  sitting  to 
hear  nonsense  till  midnight." 

The  peculiarities  of  this  West-country  senator's  colloquial 
style  seem  natural  to  those  who  remember  that,  only  one 
generation  back.  Squire  Western  was  the  greatest  Commoner 
in  Somersetshire,  and  most  certainly  might  have  been  member 
for  his  County,  if  he  had  cared  to  sit. 


APPENDIX  III 

See  page  276 

The   Church  of  England  in    Virginia 

Mr.  Sanford  Cobb,  in  his  -History  of  Religious  Liberty,  draws 
out  a  long  and  unbroken  string  of  evidence  bearing  upon  the 
favour,  and  veneration,  accorded  to  the  Church  of  England 
by  Virginians  of  the  first  two  generations.  The  earliest  emi- 
grants brought  with  them  the  Reverend  Robert  Hunt,  a 
learned  divine,  and  exemplary  man,  who  had  been  specially 
selected  as  their  spiritual  guide  by  Archbishop  Bancroft  himself. 
The  Company  voted  for  his  support  five  hundred  pounds, 
which  was  a  very  substantial  sum  of  money  in  those  days. 
The  Virginia  Code  of  161 2  included  a  provision  under  which 
those  who  spoke,  or  acted,  in  disrespect  of  any  minister  were 
to  be  "openly  whipt  three  times,  and  to  ask  public  forgive- 
ness in  the  assembly  of  the  congregation  on  three  several 
Saboth  dales."  If  any  person  refused  to  repair  to  the 
Minister  for  examination  in  his  faith  as  a  Churchman,  he  was 
whipped  daily  until  he  comphed.  In  1623,  a  fine  of  five 
hundred  pounds   of  tobacco    was    enacted    as   a   penalty   for 


APPENDICES 


319 


speaking  "  disparagingly  of  any  Minister  without  proof." 
During  our  Civil  Wars,  long  after  the  cause  of  the  Church  was 
lost  in  England,  Governor  Berkeley,  with  the  approval  and 
sympathy  of  a  large  majority  among  the  colonists,  banished  all 
Puritan  Ministers  from  the  confines  of  Virginia;  and  in  1649, 
when  King  Charles's  head  had  already  fallen,  the  cohjny  con- 
tained twenty  Church  of  England  parishes  in  which  the  tithe 
was  regularly  and  cheerfully  paid,  and  the  rector  lived  with  his 
people  in  much  "  peace  and  love."  After  the  Restoration, 
Statutes  were  passed  at  Williamsburg  enacting  that  the  whole 
Liturgy  should  be  thoroughly  read  every  Sunday  ;  that  no  Cate- 
chism should  be  used  other  than  that  appointed  by  the  Canons  ; 
and  that  no  ministers  "  but  such  as  were  ordained  by  some 
Bishop  in  England  "  should  be  allowed  in  the  colony.  The 
children  of  marriages  performed  by  clergymen  of  all  other 
denominations  were  declared  illegitimate  ;  baptism  was  enforced 
by  law ;  and  Nonconformists  were  forbidden  to  teach,  even  in 
private,  under  pain  of  exile. 


APPENDIX   IV 

See  page  310 


Among  the  extraordinarily  accurate  political  prophecies  which, 
amidst  all  his  wild  writing,  were  occasionally  thrown  out  by 
Dean  Tucker,  was  a  forecast  of  the  effect  that  would  be  pro- 
duced on  the  question  of  American  bishops  by  a  separation 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies.  The  first  of  those 
bishops  was  appointed  in  1787  ;  and  as  far  back  as  1774  the 
Dean  had  written  as  follows  about  the  grievance  under  which 
the  Episcopalians  in  America  then  suffered. 

"The  Church  of  England  alone  doth  not  enjoy  a  Toleration 
in  that  full  Extent  which  is  granted  to  the  Members  of  every 
other  Denomination.  What  then  can  be  the  cause  of  putting 
so  injurious  a  Distinction  between  the  Church  of  England,  and 
other  Churches,  in  this  respect  ?  The  Reason  is  i)lain.  The 
Americans  have  taken  it  into  their  heads  to  believe  that  the 
Episcopate  would  operate  as  some  further  tie  upon  them,  not 
to  break   loose  from  those  Obligations  which  they  owe  to  the 


320  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Mother-Country  ;  and  that  it  is  to  be  used  as  an  Engine,  under 
the  Masque  of  Religion,  to  rivet  those  chains  which  they 
imagine  we  are  forging  for  them.  Let  therefore  the  Mother- 
Country  herself  resign  up  all  Claim  of  Authority  over  them, 
as  welf  Ecclesiastical  as  Civil  ;  let  her  declare  North  America 
to  be  independent  of  Great  Britain  in  every  respect  whatever  ; 
let  her  do  this,  I  say,  and  then  all  their  Fears  will  vanish  away, 
and  their  Panics  be  at  an  end.  And  then  a  Bishop,  who  has 
no  more  Connections  with  England,  either  in  Church  or  State, 
than  he  has  with  Germany,  Sweden,  or  any  other  Country,  will 
be  no  longer  looked  upon  in  America  as  a  Monster,  but  a 
Man." — Deati  Tucker's  Fourth  Tract;  1774- 


INDEX 


Abercroubie,  Colonel,  i.  313 

Absentee  tax,  i.  133 

Adand,  Captain,  i.  241,  253 

Adams,  C.  F.,  ii.  169  n.  3,  249  «. 

Adams,  John,  on  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  i.  2 ;  voyage  to  France, 
12;  a  representative  American,  28; 
personality,  36-42,  78, 192,  193,  ii- 17. 
107;  moral  courage,  i.  91,  92;  de- 
fends Captain  Preston,  91,  92,  276  n. ; 
forensic  ability,  102;  on  contempo- 
rary manners,  102  ;  on  the  pre-Revo- 
lutionary  situation,  179;  "Sink  or 
swim;  live  or  die,"  1S6;  on  luxury, 
194;  on  Philadelphian  hospitality, 
197,  198;  accredited  to  the  Court 
of  St.  James,  220;  nominates  Wash- 
ington for  command  of  the  Conti- 
nental Army,  320;  on  Liberty  Trees, 
331  n.;  relations  with  John  Dickin- 
son, ii.  111-118;  his  share  in  Con- 
gressional business,  122  ;  on  Gordon's 
"History,"  124,  126,  127  ;  his  labours 
for  the  new  colonial  constitutions, 
128,  130, 131 ;  relations  with  Thomas 
Paine,  153-155;  the  "Atlas  of  Inde- 
pendence," 159;  on  Jefferson's  Dec- 
laration, 164;  his  closing  years,  i6g- 
171 ;  projects  a  military  academy, 
200;  on  Washington's  aides-de- 
camp, 202 ;  visits  Lord  Howe  on 
Staten  Island  with  a  view  to  peace, 
259-266;  quoted,  iii.  121,  139,  279 
n.  2,  285,  29s  n.  2 ;  efforts  to  secure 
consecration    of    American   bishops, 

310.  314 
Adams,  John  Quincy,  i.  68 
Adams,  Samuel,  i.  8,  51,  8g,  90,  104, 

160,  1S2,  276,  297,  ii.  17,  i9i  152.  166, 

265  ».  I 


Adams,  Mrs.,  i.  326 

Albemarle,  Lord,  iii.  152,  153 

Allen,  Ethan,  i.  364,  ii.  79 

American  soldier,  his  character,  ii.  208- 
218 

"American  Soldier's  Hymn,"  i.  379  «• 

Amherst,  Sir  Jeffrey,  i.  259,  260,  iii.  202, 
212 

Annapolis,  Md.,  i.  233 

"Annual  Register,"  i.  97,  383  , 

Aristocracy,  British,  lighting  qualities 
of,  i.  24,  25 

Army,  British,  character  and  prospects 
of  officers,  ii.  92-99 ;  the  private  sol- 
dier, 100-102 

Arnold,  Benedict,  allusion  to,  i.  54 ;  in- 
vades Canada,  and  wounded  in  as- 
sault on  Quebec,  360,  ii.  79,  81 ;  at 
capture  of  Ticonderoga,  i.  364 ;  cov- 
ers the  retreat  from  Montreal  to  St. 
John's,  ii.  230;  equips  a  fleet  at 
Crown  Point,  232-235;  difficulties 
with  brother  officers,  235,  236;  de- 
lays Carleton's  advance,  323;  fights 
battle  of  Valcour  Island,  324.  iii-  49; 
joins  Washington,  72  ;  defends  east- 
ern seaboard  against  Tryon,  72, 
7,5 ;  English  opinion  of  him,  180, 
181 

.\rtillcry,  American,  ii.  205 

Asbury,  Francis,  iii.  309 

Austin,  Major,  ii.  345,  346 

Baii.fy,  Rev.  Jacob,  iii.  299,  301 
Baltimore,    Md.,    Congress     removed 

from  Philadelpliia  to,  iii.  61 
Bancroft,  Dr.  Edward,  i.  400 
Bancroft,  George,  i.  52,  53  ».,  73.  iSi. 

igi  M.,  291 
Barclay,  Mr.,  i.  256,  257 


321 


322 


THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


r.arnes,  Mr.,  of  Marlborough,  Mass.,  i. 
285 

Earr6,  Colonel,  i.  56,  04,  16S,  171,  176, 
389,  ii.  54,  iii.  179 

Barrington,  Lord,  i.  114,  128,  290,  363, 
ii.  34-36 

Ilaskingridge,  Charles  Lee  captured  at, 
iii.  66 

Bate,  Rev.  Henry,  iii.  167,  171 

Bathurst,  Lord,  i.  149 

Bazaine,  Marshal,  iii.  53 

Beattie,  Dr.  James,  i.  256  n. 

Becket,  Lieutenant,  iii.  11,  12 

Bedfords,  the,  i.  10,  11,  17,  56,  102,  113, 
253.  257.  290 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  i.  161 

Bernard,  Sir  Francis,  i.  16-18,  77 

Bishop  question  in  America,  iii.  2S3- 
288 

"Blackwood's  Magazine,"  i.  400 

Blockade  of  Boston,  i.  180 

Bloomingdale,  ii.  301 

Bolingbroke,  Lord,  i.  214 

Boodle's  Club,  i.  109,  191  n. 

Boston,  Mass.,  men-of-war  and  troops 
sent  to,  i.  9-1 1 ;  military  occupation 
of,  70-92;  massacre,  89,  278;  tea- 
ships  at,  108 ;  marked  out  for  punish- 
ment, 163;  Boston  Port  Act,  166, 
190;  penal  laws  against,  166 ;  harbour 
blockaded,  180;  British  garrison  at, 
276-282 ;  investment  by  the  Ameri- 
cans, 292 ;  sufferings  of  the  town  and 
garrison,  329-337;  Loyalist  refugees 
from,  373-380;  evacuated  by  the 
British,  380-390;  Washington  in,  ii., 
172-180 

Bosville,  William,  iii.  204  n.  2 

Boswell,  James,  i.  249  n.,  iii.  224 

Boucher,  Rev.  Jonathan,  iii.  300,  301 

Bowes,  A.  R.  Stoney,  i.  210 

Bo.vle,  Colonel  Gerald,  ii.  205  n.  2 

Braintree,  Mass.,  i.  279 

Bray,  Dr.  Thomas,  iii.  2S0 

Brillat-Savarin,  Anthelme,  i.  65 

Bristol,  Burke,  elected  member  for,  i. 
208,  209,  246 

Brooks's  Club,  i.  75,  151,  152,  381 

Brunswick,  Duke  of,  297,  ii.  42,  43,  48 

Brush,  Crean,  i.  382,  387 


Buchan,  Lord,  i.  203 

Bunbury,  Lady  Sarah,  ii.  315  «.  2,  346 
M.  3,  iii.  43  n. 

Bunker's  Hill,  battle  of,  i.  301-317 ;  re- 
ceipt of  news  of  battle  in  England,  ii. 

3-S 

Burgoyne,  General,  i.  171,  172  «.,  176, 
263,  295-299,  311,  316,  317.  332,  334. 
336,  337.  340,  36S  «.,  ii.  8g,  94,  117, 
332,  ZZZ,  346  "•  3 

Burke,  Edmund,  his  "Thoughts  on 
the  Causes  of  the  Present  Discon- 
tents," i.  4,  ii.  10,  II ;  allusions,  i.  5, 
161,  167  ;  on  Franklin's  examination 
before  Parliament,  11  w. ;  estimate 
of  wliite  population  in  America,  25 ; 
on  the  study  of  law  by  colonists,  72; 
letters  to  Lord  Rockingham,  75,  207, 
ii.  10 ;  his  political  criticism,  i.  93,  95  ; 
on  American  commerce,  96 ;  on  the 
torpidity  of  Enghsh  public  opinion, 
120;  on  public  responsibility,  121, 
122;  his  "Short  Account  of  a  Short 
Administration,"  123;  on  the  Op- 
position forces  in  the  Commons, 
126;  his  industrj'  and  genius,  127; 
reproved  by  Dr.  Markham,  12S; 
Burke's  reply,  128;  divergence  be- 
tween him  and  Lord  Germaine,  129; 
the  Duke  of  Richmond's  opinion  of, 
130;  Burke's  opinion  of  Lord  John 
Cavendish,  130,  131;  attitude  in  re- 
gard to  the  representative  system, 
132,  133  ;  protest  against  Irish  absen- 
tee-landlord tax,  133;  on  American 
representation,  169;  speech  on  re- 
peal of  Tea-duty,  176;  opposes  short- 
ening of  duration  of  Parhaments, 
217;  attitude  regarding  restraint  of 
New  England  commerce,  246,  247, 
249 ;  on  the  British  commissariat  in 
Boston,  388;  on  George  IH.'s  king- 
craft, ii.  15;  on  the  ministerial  case, 
17;  on  the  proposal  to  employ  Rus- 
sians, 35;  on  German  mercenaries, 
43,  44,  54,  iii.  9;  appeal  to  Lord 
Rockingham,  ii.  55,  56;  his  Concilia- 
tory Bill  supported  by  Fox,  58;  quo- 
tation from  his  speech,  148  n.  2 ; 
letter  to  Ricliard  Champion,  quoted, 


INDEX 


323 


iii.  62,  63 ;  his  fears  for  English  lib- 
erty, 154  ;  quoted  by  Gladstone,  185  ; 
on  the  Cavendishes,  210;  on  the 
French  Revolution,  223;  letter  to 
Dr.  Robertson,  230;  on  the  Board 
of  Trade  and  Plantations,  245;  his 
speeches  and  pamphlets,  249-251, 
261;  on  "The  Dissidence  of  Dis- 
sent," 2S7 

Burnaby,  Rev.  Andrew,  i.  54  n. 

Burnet,  Bishop,  iii.  247 

Burney,  Fanny,  iii.  255 

Burns,  Robert,  i.  223,  224 

Bute,  Lord,  i.  218,  iii.  182-185,  217 

Byles,  Dr.,  i.  189 

C.-VDWALADER,  Colonel,  iii.  9  «.,  98,  99 

Caermarthen,  Lord,  i.  i6g 

"Calm   Address,"   John   Wesley's,   iii. 

259-273 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  i.  31.  266-268.  322 

Cambridge  University  (Eng.)  opinion, 
ii.  13-15 

Camden,  Lord,  i.  56,  93,  232,  ii.  iS,  52, 
iii.  169 

Campbell,  Lord,  i.  149  n. 

Canada,  under  British  rule,  ii.  70-77 ; 
American  invasion  of,  77-86 

Cape  Breton  Island,  i.  251  «.,  284,  285, 
301 

Carleton,  Sir  Guy,  Governor  of  Can- 
ada, ii.  70;   obtains  Quebec  Act,  74- 
77  ;  repels  .\merican  invasion,  77-86 
prepares  to  invade  America,  86-89 
made  Commander  of  the  Bath,  89 
delay  in  his  advance,  323 ;   battle  of 
Valcour  Island,  324;    withdraws  to 
Canada,  331 ;   Chatham's  high  opin- 
ion of  him,  iii.  206 

Carlisle,  Lord,  i.   12,  36,  99,   145,  iii. 
142  «.,  148 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  i.  37.  3S.5  «■  2 

Caroline,  Queen,  i.  153 

Carteret,  Lord,  i.  146 

Cartwright,  Major  John,  iii.  212,  214 

Catherine  II.,  Empress  of  Russia,  ii. 

.35-37 
Cavalry,  Washington  weak  in,  ii.  203 

205  ;   Britiih,  318 
Cavendish,  Lord  F"rederic,  iii.  2oq,  210 


Cavendish,  Lord  George,  ii.  59 
Cavendish,  Lord  John,  i.  5,  130,  150, 

249,  ii-  53 
Champion,  Mr.,  i.  232 
Champlain,  Lake,  ii.  232,  324 
Chandler,  Clark,  i.  186 
Charlemont,  Lord,  i.  158 
Charles    II.    and    New    England,    i. 

8  k. 
Charleston,  S.C,  i.  loS,  163,  364 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  i.  270,  289,  299, 

300,  330 
Chatham,  Lord,  i.  4,  5,  54,  60,  80,  133, 

135,  136,  157,  173,  174.  196,  225-230, 

241,  252,  253,  255,  257,  339,  ii.  18,  32, 

109,  iii.  153,  180,  190,  205-207 
Chatterton's  Hill,  ii.  314 
Chauncey,  Dr.  Charles,  iii.  282 
Churchill,  Charles,  i.  21,  iii.  185 
Clare,  Lord,  i.  28  n. 
Clarke,  Lieutenant,  i.  302,  307,  316 
Clergy,  Colonial,  in  the  Revolution,  iii. 

289-304 
Clergy,  Loyalist,  i.  189,  190,  374-377 
Clinton,  General  George,  ii.  193  «•  r, 

241,  253,  302,  320,  335  n.  I,  iii.  96 
Clinton,  General  Sir  Henry,  263,  310, 

363,  ii.  92,   241,  267,  277-282,    293, 

303,  iii.  15,  Z7, 
Cobb,  Sandford  IL,  iii.  267  ».,  273  «., 

307  ».,  318 
Coffin,  General  John,  i.  319  n. 
Coke,  Mr.,  Member  of  Parliament  for 

Norfolk,  i.  213 
Coke,  Dr.  Thomas,  iii.  308,  309 
Colonial    Churches,    iii.    266-283,    all 

disestablished,  306 
Commissariat,  Continental,  i.  328 
"Common    Sense,"    Thomas    Paine's, 

ii.  148-155- 
Concord,  Mass.,  i.  272,  286 
Congress,  American,  i.  192-198,  320,  ii. 

105-122,  iii.  60,  61,  70,  144 
Consols,  effect  of  the  war  on,  ii.  SS.  '••• 

200 
Conway,  Field-Marshal,  i.  56,  93,  94, 

III,  1 68,   171,  ii.  18,  iii.  203,  204 
Ci)i>per,  Dr.,  i.  95 
Cornhury,  Lord,  iii.  269,  271 
Cornwallis,  Lady,  iii.  04,  65 


324 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


Cornwallis,  Lord,  i.  364,  ii.  g2,  267,  277- 

282,  291  n.  I,  307  n.  I,  iii.  6,  13-18, 

63,  129-137,  143 
County  Members  of  Parliament,  i.  212- 

218 
Courier,  Paul  Louis,  ii.  152  n. 
Cowper,  William,  i.  21,  32,  117,  392-394 
Cox,  Daniel,  iii.  40 
Cradock,  Joseph,  i.  135  n. 
Crawford,  John,  of  Auchinanes,  i.  145, 

203 
Croker,  J.  W.,  iii.  167 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  i.  100 
Crown  Point,  American  troops  at,  ii. 

219-237 ;  occupied  by  Carleton,  329 ; 

evacuated,  331 
Cruger,  Mr.,  M.P.,  i.  209 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  iii.  189,  203 
Curwen,  Samuel,!.  21  «.  r,  125  n.,  330 «. 

2,  338  n.  2,  ii.  106  n.  i,  iii.  201,  221, 

227-229,  231,  233-236 
Gushing,  Thomas,  i.  105 

Dartmouth,  Lord,  i.  14,  99,  104,  115- 
119,  159  n.,  161,  203,  255-257,  296, 
381,  3Q2-394.  ii-  2,  7,  16,  23,  25,  26, 
91,  iii.  23,  224 

Dartmouth  College,  i.  118,  119 

Davis's  (John)  "Travels  in  America," 
i.  13  n. 

Dawson,  Henry  B.,  ii.  308,  343  n. 

Deane,  Silas,  ii.  17,  174 

Dechow,  Major  Von,  iii.  89,  103,  105, 
no 

Declaration  of  Independence,  ii.  1 55-1 7 1 

Declaration  of  Rights,  i.  195 

Dedham,  Mass.,  i.  287 

De  Fonblanque,  E.  B.,  i.  335  «.,  340  n.  i 

De  Lancey,  Floyd,  ii.  219  n. 

Delaware  River,  Washington  retreats 
over,  iii.  20,  21 ;  crossed  in  the  attack 
on  Trenton,  99-101 

Derby,  Captain,  ii.  2 

De  Tocqueville,  iii.  307 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  i.  125 

Dickinson,  John,  author  of  the  "Farm- 
er's Letters,"  i.  7 ;  on  England's  po- 
sition, 235 ;  drafts  petition  to  the 
King,  ii.  19-22  ;  opposes  John  Adams 
on  question  of  independence,    112- 


116,  158,  159;    his  influence  in  the 

Pennsylvanian  Assembly,  135-137 
DisestabUshment      of      all      Colonial 

Churches,  iii.  306 
Donop,  Colonel  Von,  ii.  271,  303,  iii.  85- 

123,  130 
Dorchester  Heights,  Mass.,  i.  299,  300, 

362-373 
Dowdeswell,  William,  i.  5 
Dumas,  General  Mathieu,  i.  26,  27,  ii. 

182  n. 
Dundas,  Henry,  i.  248-250 
Dunmore,  Lord,  i.  346,  ii.  191,  267 
Duportail,  ChevaUer,  ii.  215  n. 
Duquesne,  Fort,  i.  54 
Dutch    Government    refuses    to    lend 

troops  to  the  King,  ii.  41 

East  India  Company,  i.  106,  107 
Eden,  William  (Lord  Auckland),  ii.  4 
EfSngham,  Lord,  i.  388,  iii.  207,  208 
Eggleston,  Rev.  Edward,  ii.  213  «.,  iii. 

273  «.,  293  «.,  294  n. 
Electioneering  customs,  i.  203-205,  209, 

210 
Eliot,  Mr.,  i.  212,  215 
EHiot,  Sir  Gilbert,  i.  242 
ElUs,  Welbore,  i.  139,  240 
Elton,  James,  i.  172  m. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  quoted,  i.  39 
Emerson,  Rev.  WiiUam,  i.  324,  326,  327 
Eton  College,  i.  32-34,  391,  392 
Evelyn,  John,  i.  8  n. 
Ewing,  General,  iii.  98 

Fairfield,  Conn.,  burned  by  Tryon, 

ii.  240,  iii.  300 
Falconer,  Thomas,  iii.  209,  210 
Falmouth,  Lord,  i.  201 
Falmouth,  Mass.  (now  Maine),  i.  344 
Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  i.  335 
Farnsworth,   Amos,  ii.   195  and  n.   i, 

217,  3SI-3S3 
Fifth  FusiUers,  i.  313,  ii.  303,  iii.  141 
Fifty-second  Foot,  i.  306,  316 
Fisheries  Bill,  American,  i.  243 
Fishermen,  American,  i.  247,  338 
Fiske,  John,  iii.  49 
Fitzpatrick,  Richard,  i.  143,  145,  ii.  58, 

59,  321  ».,  332  n.  2,  333 


INDEX 


325 


Flag,  American,  first  hoisted,  i.  35S 

Flogging  in  the  army,  i.  87  and  ».,  334, 
iii.  197,  198 

Foote,  Samuel,  i.  201  «. 

Ford,  Captain,  ii.  346 

Fort  Lee,  iii.  i,  12,  17 

Fort  Washington,  iii.  1-13 

Forty-second  Highlanders,  ii.  277,  301, 
iii.  6 

Forty-seventh  Foot,  i.  306 

Forty-third  Foot,  i.  306 

Fothergill,  Dr.,  i.  256,  258 

Fox,  Charles  James,  life  at  Eton,  i.  t^^, 
391 ;  classical  learning,  33 ;  college 
life  and  after,  34,  35;  allusions  to, 
36,  136;  political  career  and  char- 
acter, 137-139;  142-145.  151-154. 
174-178,  205-207,  217,  218,  229-233, 
ii.  10;  personal  character,  137,  138, 
140-154,  174,  175.  199,  205,  206,  394- 
399,  ii.  57;  on  Parliamentary  ora- 
tory, i.  163  n. ;  hostility  to  France 
230,  23 1 ;  opposes  coercion  of  the 
Colonies,  236-240,  242,  243,  247,  24S ; 
letter  to  Burke,  267 ;  letters  to  his 
mother,  392,  393  ;  personal  influence, 
ii-  57;  speech  in  October  1775,  57; 
persuades  Lord  Ossory  and  Richard 
Fitzpatrick  to  support  Burke's  Con- 
ciliatory Bill,  58;  on  Lord  North's 
Prohibitory  Bill,  60,  61 ;  on  Lord 
Cornwallis,  iii.  15  n.\  relations  with 
Gibbon,  241-246 ;  on  newspapers 
and  pamphlets,  252  ;  appreciation  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  255,  256 

Fox,  George,  i.  70 

Fox,  Stephen,  i.  140,  145,  147,  148 

Francis,  Sir  Philip,  i.  63,  134,  170 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  joy  at  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  •\ct,  i.  2 ;  publishes,  in  Lon- 
don, Dickinson's  "Farmer's  Letters," 
7;  examined  before  Parliament,  10, 
11;  voyage  to  England  in  1762,  12; 
complains  of  EngUsh  ignorance  of 
America,  13,  14;  on  Colonial  Gov- 
ernors, 16;  a  persona  grata  in  soci- 
ety, 28,  29;  personal  character,  42- 
51;  on  George  IIL,  57,  58;  contrasts 
Scotland  and  Ireland  with  Xew  Eng- 
land, 63;  on    early  marriages,  66; 


on  American  manufactures,  96;  on 
smuggling,  gS;  on  trend  of  English 
opinion,  105,  106;  on  the  Tea-duty, 
loS ;  before  the  Privy  Council  on  the 
letters  of  Oliver  and  Hutchinson, 
155-163;  on  exercise  of  the  right  of 
petition,  181 ;  friendship  with  WiUiam 
Strahan,  206;  on  Parliament,  211; 
relations  with  Lord  Chatham,  228  «., 
255  ;  relations  with  Lord  Howe,  255 ; 
attempts  unolBcial  negotiations,  256, 
257;  sails  for  Philadelphia,  254,  258; 
on  the  burning  of  Charleston,  346, 
347  ;  attends  Congressional  Commit- 
tee at  Cambridge,  350;  on  American 
armament,  353  ;  on  time  and  expense 
necessary  to  extinguish  rebellion, 
359.  360;  signing  of  the  treaty  with 
France,  399;  distrust  of  Lee  and 
Deane,  ii.  17;  duplicity  sometimes 
practised  by,  109 ;  a  Member  of  Con- 
gress, 121,  122;  opposes  the  Pcnn 
interest,  135  ;  relations  with  Thomas 
Paine,  147;  sent  to  Paris,  157;  one 
of  the  deputation  to  Lord  Howe  on 
Staten  Island,  259-266 ;  his  efforts  to 
secure  .American  bishops,  iii.  310-312 

Eraser,  General,  ii.  85 

Frederic  the  Great,  i.  211,  225,  363,  388, 
ii.  36,  174,  283,  iii.  118,  150,  157,  158 

French  nobles  and  American  Society, 
i.  25-32,  68,  69 

French  opinion,  iii.  159-162 

Freneau,  Phihp,  i.  103  n. 

Frothingham,  Mr.,  i.  318  ».,  351  «., 
373  n. 

Gage,  General,  i.  88,  165,  180,  182,  184, 
185,  234,  260,  264-267,  271,  286,  294- 
297,  314  «.,  319.  334,  336,  337-338,  ii. 
2,  3,  116,  256,  293 

Galloway,  Joseph,  ii.  343,  iii.  22  n.  i 

Garden,  Alexander,  i.  59,  83 

Gaspee  (schooner),  i.  103 

Gates,  General,  i.  54,  ii.  123,  221,  222, 
225,  230,  232,  329,  iii.  57,  66,  98  ». 

Gcnimingen,  Freiherr  Von,  iii.  115 

General  election  of  1774,  i.  199-218 

"  Gentleman's  .Magazine,  The,"  i.  59  ;;., 
294  ».,  ii.  291  n.  I 


326 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


George  III.,  anger  with  America,  i.  3,  4  ; 
replaces  Rockingham  by  Chatham, 
4;  personal  government  of,  55,  56, 
III,  119,  120,  389,  390;  original  de- 
votion of  America  to,  57,  58;  the 
King's  friends,  94,  ii.  9 ;  tampers  with 
private  letters,  i.  158;  influenced  by 
Gage  against  Massachusetts,  165 ; 
his  view  of  the  Opposition,  173,  174; 
his  statue  in  New  York,  193,  ii.  168; 
conduct  at  general  election  of  1774, 
i.  200-203,  211 ;  prophecy  concerning 
dissolution,  209;  the  King's  speech, 
218;  relations  with  Wilkes,  219,  220; 
relations  with  Chatham,  225,  226; 
petitioned  by  the  city  of  London,  246  ; 
esteem  for  Lord  Dartmouth,  255,  256, 
ii.  26 ;  chooses  the  generals,  i.  260- 
263 ;  his  dealings  with  General  Gage, 
265,  266,  336;  considers  American 
strength  magnified,  328;  removes 
Admiral  Graves,  340;  advocates 
"distressing  America,"  344;  Wash- 
ington's views  of  his  Majesty's  ten- 
derness, 359 ;  his  political  capacity 
and  opinions,  ii.  11-13;  enthusiasm 
for  the  war,  15;  defines  his  policy 
and  prepares  for  the  struggle,  23 ; 
deprives  Duke  of  Grafton  of  Privy 
Seal,  25;  dismisses  Lord  Rochford 
with  a  pension,  27;  employs  Lord 
Weymouth,  27,  and  Lord  George 
Germaine,  28 ;  displays  vigour  in  war 
preparations,  34,  69,  103,  104 ;  appre- 
ciation of  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  89; 
denounced  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  162,  163 ;  his  statue 
pulled  down,  168;  his  personal 
friends,  316;  supports  Carleton,  332  ; 
personal  attacks  on,  in  the  news- 
papers, iii.  171-177  ;  accused  of  being 
influenced  by  Lord  Bute,  183-185; 
his  kindness  to  Dr.  Johnson,  256; 
prayers  for  him  prohibited  in  Amer- 
ica, 299 

Germaine,  Lord  George,  i.  56,  129,  166, 
296,  ii.  28,  30,  89,  103,  318,  332 

German  immigrants  in  Pennsylvania, 
ii.  137,  iii.  119  ».  I 

German  mercenaries,  ii.  37~So 


Gibbon,  Edward,  i.  34,  124,  152,  171  n., 

212,  214,  236,  ii.  30  w.,  35,  iii.  242- 

246,  257,  264 
Glover,  Colonel  John,  iii.  74 
Gordon,    Rev.    William,    historian,    ii. 

123-126,  226,  350,  351 
Governors,  Colonial,  i.  14-16 
Gower,  Lord,  i.  93,  1 13 
Grafton,  Duke  of,  i.  5,  10,  34,  92-94, 

III,  ii.  13,  23-25,  51 
Granby,    Lord,    i.    93,    111-113,    131, 

252 
Grant,  General,  ii.  277,  279-282,  iii.  85, 

102 
Grant  of  Laggan,  Mrs.,  i.  82  «.,  377  «., 

ii.  220  n.  I,  iii.  232 
Graves,  Admiral  Samuel,   i.   270,   338 

M.  2,  340,  371 

Graves,  Thomas,  i.  340  n.  2 
Gray,  Thomas,  iii.  247 
Graydon,  Captain,  iii.  48  n.  i 
Greene,    John    Richard,    ii.    163,    iii. 

223  n. 
Greene,  General  Nathanael,  i.  52,  59, 

292.  317,  323,  355.  386,  ii.  183  «.,  202, 

244  «.,  275,  291,  294,  320,  336,  iii.  3-5, 

17,  27,  98,  loi,  104,  no 
Grenville,  George,  i.  2,  3,  74,  75,  94,  199, 

200 
Grenville,  Lord,  iii.  223  and  n. 
Gunning,  Sir  Robert,  ii.  35,  36 

Haerlem  (Holland),  ii.  305 

Haerlem  Heights,  N.Y.,    battle  of,  ii. 

296,  300-395 
Halifax,  Lord,  i.  115 
HaUfax,  N.S.,  i.  383,  "•  238 
Hallowell,  Benjamin,  i.  186,  383 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  i.  51,  iii.  75,  76, 

81,  105,  137 
Hancock,  John,  i.  73,  77,  90,  loi,  272, 

276,  277,  297,  375,  384,  ii-  272,  295, 

iii.  125,  132  n.  2 
Hancock,  Thomas,  i.  loi 
Hanway,  Jonas,  i.  165  n. 
Harcourt,  Colonel  William,  ii.  42,  315- 

317,  iii.  67-79 
Harcourt,  Lord,  ii.  316 
Hardwicke,  Lord,  i.  34 
Harley,  Alderman,  iii.  ig6 


INDEX 


327 


Harris,  Captain  (Lord)  George  (sth 
Foot),  300  and  ».,  313,  330  n.,  ii.  303, 
iii.  141 

Hartley,  Colonel,  ii.  329 

Harvard  College  (now  University),  i. 
301,  ii.  IQ9,  200,  iii.  277 

Haslet,  Colonel,  ii.   282  «.,  314  n.   i, 

iii.  135 
Haverstraw  Bay,  ii.  252 
Hawke,   Admiral   Sir   Edward,   i.   93, 

III 
Heath,  General,  i.  288,  293,  367,  37°. 

ii.  287,  337.  345.  i"-  5°.  Si 
Heister,  General  Von,  ii.  271,  277-2S2, 

iii.  119,  123 
"Hell,  Hull,  and  Halifax,"  i.  383 
Henry,  Patrick,  i.  192,  222,  ii.  119,  120, 

130,  iii.  272  «.,  275 
Hesse,  Landgrave  of,  ii.  45^48.  iii-  123 
Hessians,  the,  ii.  31-50;    reach  Amer- 
ica, 92  ;  in  action  at  Long  Island,  271 , 
272,   277-282 ;  at  Haerlem  Heights, 
298 ;  at  White  Plains,  313 ;  on  Man- 
hattan Island,   336;    ravage  West- 
chester,   342 ;     victorious    at    Fort 
Washington,  iii.  6-9 ;  enter  Trenton, 
21;     plunder    New    Jersey,    27-40; 
captured  at  Trenton,  86-124 
Highlanders,    captured    by    American 
privateers,  i.  3S7,  ii.  92  ;   enlisted  for 
the  war,  ii.  32-34;    land  at  Staten 
Island,   238;  on    Long  Island,   268, 
271,  277,  281;   at  Haerlem  Heights, 
301 ;  at  Fort  Washington,  iii.  6 
Hillsborough,  Lord,  i.  8,  14,  93 
Hitchcock,  Colonel  Daniel,  iii.  127,  1,55. 

150  n.  2 
Holland,  Henry  Fox  (ist  Lord),  i.  32, 
33.  36,  98.  9Q.  139-141.  147.  218,  39 '. 
Holland,   Henry   Richard  Vassal   Fox 

(3d  Lord),  i.  144 
Holland,  Lady  (mother  of  C.  J.  Fox), 

i.  146,  147,  392,  393 
Holland,    Lady   Mary    (mother   of   3d 

Lord  Holland),  i.  148 
HoUis,  Thomas,  i.  85 
H(jlmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  i.  156  n. 
Honeyman,  John,  iii.  93,  94 
Hopkins,  Stephen,  i.  104 
Hotham,  Commodore,  ii.  297 


"Hounds,  the,"  i.  146,  304.  305 
How,  David,  i.  303,  310  m.,  324  «.,  327, 
358  «-.  373  «•,  385  «•.  387  «•.  ii-  299  »•, 
iii.  71  n.,  113  «.,  128  w. 
Howe,  George  Augustus,  Lord,  i.  80 
Howe,  John,  iii.  230,  231 
Howe,  Adniiral  Richard  (Earl),  endeav- 
ours to  avert  war,  i.  255 ;   his  splen- 
did career,  ii.  89 ;   commands  British 
naval  force,  91,  92  ;  sails  for  America, 
251;    his  efforts  for  peace,  253-266; 
at  Long  Island,  281 ;  offers  free  par- 
don to  Colonials,  iii.   27 ;    relations 
with  John  Cartwright,  213,  214 
Howe,   General   Sir  William,   memlicr 
for  Nottingham,  i.  262 ;   attitude  on 
the    American    question,    262;     at 
Bunker's    Hill,    304-317;     succeeds 
Gage,    336;     prepares    to    abandon 
Boston,    361-364;      at    Dorchester 
Heights,  368,  369 ;  evacuates  Boston, 
371,372;  threatens  to  destroy  Boston, 
380;  embarks  the  LoyaUsts,  381-384 ; 
his  army  described,  ii.  90-104;    on 
Staten  Island,  237-250;    operations 
on  Long  Island,  267-292;    at  Haer- 
lem   Heights,    292-305;     at    White 
Plains,  306-316 ;  at  Westchester  Pen- 
insula, 336,   337;    lax    in    enforcing 
disciphne,  346-349,  iii.  39;   captures 
Fort   Washington,   iii.    1-13;    stops 
Cornwallis's  pursuit,  19;    offers  free 
pardon  to  the  Colonials,  27  ;  goes  into 
winter  quarters,  63;  made  K.  C.  B., 
64;  defends  his  strategy  in   Parlia- 
ment, 84,  85  ;   his  army  short  of  sup- 
plies after  Trenton  and  Princeton, 
140-142 
"Hudibras,"  i.  70 
Hume,  David,  i.  14  «.,  "9.  265,  iii.  241, 

242 
Hunt,  Lci':rh,  iii.  172 
Huntingdon,  Lady,  i.  116,  117 
Hutchinson,  Governor,  i.  157,  160,  161, 

236,  254 
Hyde,  Lord,  i.  255 
"Hymn,  American  Soldier's,"  i.  379  «• 

Iothans,  Canadian,  British  policy  to- 
ward, ii.  73,  74 


328 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


Inglis,  Rev.  Dr.,  iii.  2g8,  299,  301 
Inoculation    practised     by    American 

army  surgeons,  ii.  223-225 
Ireland,  poor  recruiting  results  in,  ii.  34 
Irnham,  Lord,  ii.  53,  54 

Jacobites,  ii.  12,  iii.  155,  215 
Jamaica  Assembly's  petition,  i.  245 
Jay,  John,  ii.  23  n.,  109,  178,  294 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  i.  52;   ii.  109,  119, 

121,  156,  161,  164-166,  170,  171 
Johnson,  Mr.,  of  Connecticut,  i.  97 
Johnson,  Samuel,   152,   200,   206,   220, 

223,  ii.  zj,,  iii.  167,  183  «.,  213  n.,  225, 

242  n.,  256-259,  263,  264 
Johnstone,  Ex-Governor,  i.  171,  237 
Jones,  Judge  Thomas,  ii.  240,  241  n., 

343  «•,  347,  348,  iii.  31,  140,  277 
"Junius,"  i.  9,  34,  57,  63,  93 

Kalb,  Baron  de,  ii.  194 

Kalm,  Professor  Peter,  iii.  106  n. 

Kearsley,  Dr.,  ii.  143 

Keppel,    Vice-Admiral    Augustus,    iii. 

202 
King's  Friends,  the,  i.  3,  4,  94,  241-243 
Knowlton,  Captain  Thomas,  ii.  301,  302 
Knox,  Colonel  (later  General),  i.  364, 

ii.  274,  iii.  73,  100,  loi,  105,  108-110, 

III,  127,  132  n.  I,  134 
Knyphausen,  General,  ii.  337,  iii.  6 
Kosciusko,  Thaddeus,  ii.  329 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  i.  26,  27,  68, 

ii.  170,  183,  273  «.,  iii.  93  n.  3 
Lampoons,  Loyalist,  i.  377-379 
Lawrence,  Lord,  ii.  283  and  ».  2 
Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  i.  4,  loi  n.  i,  ii.  50, 

163 
Lee,  Arthur,  ii.  17,  108,  iii.  221 
Lee,  General  Charles,  allusions  to,  i. 
54,  79,  23s,  326;  on  the  American 
military  situation,  234 ;  his  unde- 
served reputation,  323  ;  advocates  the 
employment  of  pikemen,  353  ;  jeal- 
ousy of  Washington,  355 ;  on  Con- 
gress, ii.  108,  250  n.  2 ;  relations  with 
John  Adams,  115,  116;  on  Paine's 
"Common  Sense,"  152;  letter  to 
Washington  quoted,    172,    173;    at 


Charleston,  210;  advocates  evacua- 
tion of  New  York,  294 ;  letters  to 
Washington  and  FrankHn  quoted, 
320;  fails  to  support  Washington, 
iii.  41-56 ;  captured  at  Baskingridge, 
66-70,  125 

Lee,  Harry,  i.  59,  iii.  44 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  i.  192,  375,  ii.  108, 
120,  156 

Leitch,  Major,  ii.  301,  302 

Leslie,  Colonel,  i.  282 

Lexington,  battle  of,  i.  286-290;  ac- 
count of,  addressed  to  inhabitants  of 
Great  Britain  by  Colonists,  ii.  i,  2 

Liberty  Tree,  i.  331 

Ligne,  Prince  de,  iii.  16 

Ligonier,  Lord,  i.  113  n. 

Liverymen's  address  to  the  King,  iii. 
219 

Livingston,  Colonel  Robert,  i.  302  n.,  ii. 
156,  253 

Livingston,  William,  ii.  196  and  n.  2, 
iii.  282  n. 

Lloyd,  Major-General,  i.  353  n.  2 

London,  city  of,  petition  to  George  III. 
i.  246;  political  opinion  in,  ii.  12,  13, 
iii.  igo-201 

Long  Island,  described,  ii.  242,  243 ; 
operations  on,  267-292 

Loughborough,  Lord,  i.  162 

Louisburg,  siege  of,  i.  251,  285 

Loyal  addresses,  ii.  10-19 

Loyalists,  American,  i.  186-190,  285, 
373-383,  iii-  225-236 

Lynedoch,  Lord,  i.  261 

Lyttleton,  Lord,  ii.  63,  64,  iii.  247 

Macartney,  Sir  George,  i.  125,  igg 

Macaulay,  Catharine,  i.  14,  iii.  247-249 

Macaulay,  Lord,  i.  4,  ii.  75  n.,  291  n. 
I,  iii.  188  n.,  247  n. 

Macdougal,  General,  iii.  28  n. 

Mackrabie,  Alexander,  i.  63,  65  n.,  67, 
74,  84,  85,  iii.  284 

Madison,  James,  ii.  109,  iii.  305 

Magaw,  Colonel,  iii.  3-8 

Mahan,  Captain  A.  T.,  quoted,  i.  251 
n.,  339  n. 

Malmesbury,  C.  J.  Fox  elected  mem- 
ber of  Parliament  for,  i.  205 


INDEX 


329 


Malmesbury,  Lord,  i.  34 

Malton,  i.  207,  208 

Manchester,  Duke  of,  i.  227,  ii.  63 

Manchester  address  to  the  King,  ii.  1 2 

Mandeville,  Bernard  de,  i.  155 

Manly,  Captain,  i.  342,  343,  357 

Mansfield  (William  Murray),  Earl  of, 

ii.  66-68,  iii.  184  and  n.  2,  211 
Manufactures,  .\merican,  i.  g6 
Marblehead,  Mass.,  i.  180,  182 
Markham,  Archbishop,  i.  128,  iii.  197  n. 
Markham,   Colonel  Enoch,  ii.  97,  iii. 

7,  n.  2,  9,  21,  28,  140  n.  2,  315,  316 
Marshall's   "Life  of  Washington,"   i. 

299  «. 
Marshfield,  Mass.,  i.  282 
Maryland,  religious  parties  in,  iii.  26S, 

269 
Mason,  William,  i.  131  n.,  223,  359,  ii. 

12,  iii.  208,  246 
Massachusetts,  petition  from  the  As- 
sembly, i.  7,  8 ;  new  Constitution  of, 

ii.  128 
Mathew,  General,  iii.  6 
Mawhood,  Colonel,  iii.  134-137 
Mayhew,  Jonathan,  iii.  288,  289 
Melville,  Lord,  i.  261 
Mercer,  General,  ii.  104,  106,  134,  135, 

139  n.  2 
Meredith,  Sir  William,  i.  94 
Methodists,  the  American,  iii.  307-309 
Mifflin,   General,  ii.   207,   289,  iii.   72, 

126 
Militia,  American,  i.  251  «.,  281,  ii.  182- 

194 
Minden,  battle  of,  i.  316  n. 
Monroe,  James,  iii.  77,  107 
Montagu,  Admiral,  i.  102,  103  «.,  104, 

340 
Montgomery,  General  Richard,  i.  360, 

ii.  78,  80-82,  155,  iii-  178-180 
Montreal,  occupied  by  Americans,  ii. 

78;    evacuated  by  Benedict  Arnold, 

230 
Moore,  Sir  John,  i.  261 
Morellet,  Abbg,  iii.  160 
Morris,  Robert,  ii.  331,  iii.  34,  61,  79, 

125,  126 
Morristown,  N.  J.,  iii.  138 
Moultrie,  Colonel,  iii.  46 


Mowatt,  Captain,  i.  344 
Murray,  Mrs.,  ii.  299 
Muskets,  defects  of  flint-lock,  ii.   285 
and  n. 

"Nancy,"  the,  i.  357 
Nantasket  roads,  i.  383,  386 
Nantucket,  Mass.,  i.  245,  246 
National  opinion  on  the  war,  iii.  163- 

181,  202-219 
Naval  operations:    American,  i.  341- 

343.  357,  386,  387  ;  British,  i.  337-347 
Navy,  impressment  for  the,  iii.   192- 

197 

New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  Washington's 
retreat  to,  iii.  19;  headquarters  of 
Major-General  Grant,  85 

Newcome,  Dr.,  i.  35 

New  Jersey,  plundered  by  Hessians, 
iii.  27-40 

Newport,  R.  I.,  iii.  20 

Newspapers,  English,  iii.  163-181 

Newton,  John,  i.  116,  117,  392-394 

New  York  City,  attitude  toward  Tea- 
duty,  i.  108;  honours  Lord  Dart- 
mouth's memory,  119;  advocates 
resistance,  163 ;  welcomes  Massa- 
chusetts delegates  to  Philadelphia 
Congress,  193 ;  evacuation  of,  by 
Washington,  ii.  293-300;  great  fire 
in,  309,  310;  plundered  by  Royalist 
troops,  348, 349 ;  Howe's  winter  quar- 
ters, iii.  63 

New  York  Colony,  withdraws  from 
anti-British  trade  agreement,  i.  94 

New  York  State,  new  Constitution  of, 
ii.  130;   loyalism  in,  244-247,  308 

Nonjurors,  iii.  15S 

Nook's  Hill,  i.  371,  372 

Norfolk,  Va.,  i.  345 

North,  Lord,  moves  repeal  of  Ameri- 
can duties  except  that  on  tea,  i.  92 ; 
defends  the  Tea-duty,  94;  explains 
the  King's  attitude,  108;  attitude 
toward  the  Colonics,  113;  Macart- 
ney on  his  success,  125;  relations 
with  Fox,  138;  Fox  bets  against  con- 
tinuance of  his  administration,  151 ; 
his  policy  criticised,  161  ;  at  Frank- 
lin's ej;»a:J.niition   before  the  Privy 


330 


THE   AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


Council,  162 ;  delivers  Royal  mes- 
sage to  the  House  on  affairs  in  Bos- 
ton, 1 65 ;  use  of  the  Secret  Service 
Fund,  201 ;  robbed  on  highway,  207  ; 
approves  actions  of  Parliament,  219; 
presents  letters  from  Colonial  Gov- 
ernors to  the  House,  221 ;  advocates 
suppression  of  rebellion,  2,35 ;  pro- 
poses to  exempt  Colonies  from  im- 
perial taxation  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances, 238;  afraid  to  attempt 
conciliation,  243;  Burgoyne's  corre- 
spondence with,  296 ;  John  Wesley's 
letter  to,  ii.  s,  6;  calls  for  Loyal 
Addresses,  11-14;  his  distress  at  the 
war,  15;  Grafton  remonstrates  with 
him,  24 ;  his  Prohibitory  Bill,  59-63  ; 
his  conduct  of  the  war  criticised  by  the 
London  press,  iii.  177,  178;  bet  on 
the  manner  of  his  death,  222;  Gib- 
bon's declaration  about  him,  245 ; 
his  Uterary  relations  with  Dr.  John- 
son as  a  pamphleteer,  256 

North,  Roger,  iii.  169 

North  Chapel,  Boston,  i.  331 

Norwalk,  Conn.,  burned  by  Tryon, 
ii.  240 

Odell,    Rev.    Jonathan,    ii.    178,    iii. 

302 
Officers,  British,   character   of,   i.    79- 

8S 

Oldfield,  Major  Thomas,  i.  313  n. 

Oliver,  Chief  Justice,  iii.  226 

Oliver,  Lieutenant-Governor,  i.  157, 
160,  161,  268 

Omond's  "Lord  Advocates  of  Scot- 
land," i.  249  n. 

Ossory,  Lord,  145,  204,  ii.  58 

Oxford  University  opinion,  ii.  13 

Paine,    Thomas,    i.    165    «.,    ii.    no, 

147-155;      his    "Common    Sense," 

148-155;     "The    Crisis,"     155,    iii. 

81,  82 

Pamphleteers,  the,  iii.  249-258 

"Paper    of    Hints   for    Conversation, 

i.  256 
Parker,  Sir  Peter,  i.  364 ;   ii.  267 
Parkman,  Francis,  quoted,  i,  81,  251  n. 


Parliament,  proceedings  in,  ii.  50-68 
Paterson,  Colonel  (Colonial),  ii.  222 
Paterson,  Colonel  (Royalist),  ii.  255 
"  Peggy  Stewart,"  burning  of  the,  i.  233 
Pcllcw,   Edward   (Lord   Exmouth),    ii. 

32s 
Pcmberton,  James,  iii.  273 
Pcnn  family,  ii.  20,  21,  in,  135 
Penn,  Richard,  ii.  20,  21 
Pennsylvania,    the    Revolution   in,    ii. 

133-146 
Percy,  Lord,  i.  28S,  369,  ii.  277,  310,  iii. 

5,  6,  214 
Personal  government  of  George  III., 

i-  55.  56,  in,  119,  120,  218,  ii.  9,  10, 

iii.  151 
Peters,  Rev.  Samuel,  i.  278,  279,  375 
Phelps,  E.  J.,  i.  372  n. 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  celebrates  the  repeal 

of  the  Stamp  Act,  i ;   progress  of  the 

city,  47  ;  reception  of  tea-ship  in,  108 ; 

attitude  toward  Revolution,  163,  ii. 

133,  134 ;    iii-  59-63 ;    first  Congress 

at,  i.  182,  194-198;    reUgious  equal- 
ity in,  iii.  268 
PliilUps,  General,  ii.  86,  97  n.,  330 
Phipps,  Constantine  (Lord  Mulgrave), 

i.  76 
Pitcairn,  Major,  i.  313 
Pitt,  Lord,  iii.  206,  207 
Pitt,  WilUam,  i.  228,  231,  iii.  223  and  w. 
Political    discontent    in    England,    ii. 

i-io 
Pomeroy,  Seth,  i.  281,  306,  315 
Pontoon  corps,  Washington's,  iii.  73,  74 
Porter,  General  Horace,  ii.  186  ».  i 
Portland,  Duke  of,  i.  125 
Portsmouth,  N.H.,  i.  222,  270 
Post  Office,  practice  of  opening  letters 

in,  i.  158,  159 
Pownall,  Thomas,  i.  76  and  ».,   167, 

172,  238 
Prescott,  Colonel,  i.  301-314 
Press-gang  proceedings,  iii.  192-196 
Preston,  Captain,  i.  91,  168,  276 
Price,  Dr.,  iii.  253 
Price,  Uvedale,  i.  145 
Priestley,  Dr.,  i.  161 
Princeton,  N.J.,  Washington's  victory 

at,  iii.  124-147 


INDEX 


331 


Princeton  College,  Massachusetts  del- 
egates to  Philadelphia  Congress  at, 
i.  193 ;   occupied  by  Lord  Howe,  iii. 

31 

Prohibitory  Bill,  Lord  North's,  u.  59-6S 

Provincial  Governments,  organisation 
of,  ii.  127-132 

Putnam,  General  Israel,  i.  52,  80,  191, 
235,  269,  291,  301,  305,  307,  312,  315, 
322,  323,  326,  355,  iS^<  369,  384.  ii- 
ig8,  230,  275,  277,  278,  iii.  59 

Putnam,  James,  i.  66 

Putnam,  Colonel  Rufus,  ii.  213,  214, 
294 

Quakers,  American,  ii.  iii,  i34,  ^i^^ 

139-142,  iii.  59,  139 
Quebec,   Montgomery's  assault  on,   i. 

360,  ii.  78 
Quebec  Act,  ii.  74-77 
Queensberry,  Duke  of,  i.  36 
Qui  Iranstiilit  sustinet,  i.  326 
Quincy,  Josiah,  i.  91. 

Rall,  Colonel,  iii.  9,  86-113 

Ranelagh,  i.  191 

Rawdon,  Lord,  i.  313,  335,  336 

Rawlins,  William,  i.  100  n.  i 

Reed,  Colonel,  ii.   185,  280,  302,  344, 

iii.  54 
Reed,  Joseph,  ii.  254  n.  i 
Refugee  Loyalists,  iii.  225-236 
Revenue  laws,  i.  97-101 
Rhode  Island,  subdued  by  Howe,  iii.  20 
Richmond,  Duke  of,  i.  122,  125,  126. 

130,  132,  ISO,  152,  ii.  18,  50,  63-65,  iii. 

162,  163,  171 
Riding  the  rail,  i.  184  n. 
Riedesel,  General,  i.  12,  ii.  42,  86,  331 
Rigby,  Richard,  i.  22,  23,  123,  128,  149, 

150  ».,  159,  200,  241,  250,  254 
Robertson,  Dr.  William,  iii.  239-241 
Robinson,  John,  i.  201,  202,  219,  339 
Rochford,  Lord,  i.  93,  iSO»-,  296,  ii-  25, 

27 
Rockingham,  Lord,  i.  2,  4,  S,  121,  123, 

125,  126,  132,  136,  149,  173.  207,  221, 

227,  232,  ii.  10,  14,  55-57 
Rodney,  Admiral,  i.  339  »■ 
Rodney,  Captain  Thomas,  iii.  139 


Roxbury,  Mass.,  i.  323 
Royall,  Isaac,  i.  181 
Russell,  John  Earl,  i.  144 
Rutledge,  Edward,  ii.  259,  266 
Rye,  N.Y.,  ii.  245 

Sabine,  Lorenzo,  i.  73  n.  2,  191  n.,  279 
n.,  319  ».,  376  «.,  380  «.,  ii.  307  n.  2 
St.  Vincent,  Lord  (John  Jervis),  i.  231 
Salaries  in  America,  i.  64 
Salem,  Mass.,  i.  166,  180,  182,  184,  271, 

282,  283 
Saltonstall,  Colonel,  i.  187 
Sandwich,  Lord,  i.  34,  51,  102,  103  «., 

104,  149,  150  ».,  250,  256,  257,  339, 

388,  ii.  II,  13,  64,  65,  91,  iii.  15,  192 
Sandy  Hook,   Howe's  rendezvous,  ii. 

238 
Savile,   Sir  George,  i.    130,    132,    i34. 

150,  152,  167 
Sawbridge,  .\lderman  John,  i.  172,  ii. 

103,  iii.  191,  196 
Saxe,  Marshal,  ii.  210 
Sayre,  Rev.  John,  iii.  300 
Schiller,  J.  F.  C.  Von,  iii.  117 
Schuyler,  General  Philip,  ii.  126,  219- 

221,  iii.  56,  72 
Scotch,  unpopularity  of,  iii.  181-189 
Scotch-Irish  settlers,   ii.  138,   139,   iii. 

295 
Seabury,  Bishop,  ii.  339,  340,  iii.  3i3 
Seeker,  .Archbishop,  iii.  279,  281,  283, 

286 
Secret  Scr\dce  Fund,  i.  201 
Sdgur,  Comte  de,  i.  26-28,  31,  68,  69 

and  «.,  iii.  268 
Selwyn,  George,  i.  12,  36,  99,  149,  15S, 

205  «.,  212,  214,  215,  ii.  31,  103,  iii. 

148,  149,  233 
Serle,  .\mbrose,  iii.  24,  26,  30,  60  n., 

69  n.  2,  296  «.  I 
.Sewall,  Jonathan,  i.  38,  39,  4^,  '86 
Seymour,  Commodore,  iii.  90 
Sharp,  Granville,  iii.  210-212,  312,  314 
Sharpless,  Isaac,  ii.  140  n.  2 
Shcbbeare,  John,  iii.  255 
Sheffield,  Lord,  i.  98 
Shelburne,  Lord,  i.  10,  11,  33,  94,  I73  '»•, 

ii.  18,  SI,  52 
Sherman,  Roger,  ii.  156 


332 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


Shippen,  Dr.  William,  iii.  71  «.,  70  «• 

I,  98,  Q9 
Sixteenth  Light  Dragoons,  iii.  67 
Slave  trade,  condemned  by  Congress, 

i-  iQS 

Sloane,  Sir  Hans,  i.  15s 

Smith,  Adam,  i.  64  n.  2,  iii.  238,  242 
n.  I 

Smith,  Sir  Harry,  iii.  38 

Smith,  Captain  John,  his  "Historic  of 
Virginia"  quoted,  i.  243,  244 

Smith,  Colonel,  i.  286 

Smith,  Dr.  William,  ii.  154,  155 

Smollett,  Tobias,  i.  19,  20 

Smuggling,  prevalence  of,  i.  98-100 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel, iii.  280-283 

Sons  of  Liberty,  i,  g,  270,  331 

South  Church,  Boston,  i.  332 

"Spectator,"  quoted,  i.  55,  56 

Springfield,  Mass.,  i.  185 

Stamp  Act,  effect  of  its  repeal,  i.  1-6 

Stanhope,  Lord,  i.  251  «.,  ii.  22,  23 

Stanley,  Captain,  i.  329 

Stanley,  Hans,  i.  158 

Stark,  Colonel,  i.  310  n.,  iii.  107,  123, 
126 

Staten  Island,    General   Howe  on,   ii. 
237-251,  268-270 

Statesmen,  personal  habits  of,  in  eigh- 
teenth century,  i.  18 

Statue  of  George  III.  at  New  York,  i. 
193,  ii.  168 

Stedman,  Mr.,  iii.  23 

Stillman,  William,  iii.  25  n.  i 

Stirling,  Lord,  his  family  and  charac- 
ter, ii.  176-179;    captured  in  action 
on  Long  Island,  278-282  ;  exchanged, 
309;     covers   Washington's   passage 
of  the  Delaware,  iii.  20,  21 ;  at  Tren- 
ton,  104,   105;    entertains  captured 
Hessian   officers,    119;     disabled   by 
rheumatism  from  taking  part  in  the 
Princeton  campaign,  129 
Strahan,  William,  i.  205,  206 
Stringer,  Rev.  William,  i.  178 
Str>'ker,  WilHam  S.,  iii.  17  w.,  74  «.  i, 

78  n.,  133  n. 
Suffolk,  Lord,  i.  203,  228,  252,  ii.  52, 
S3 


Sullivan,  General  John,  military  ability, 
i.  324;  invades  Canada,  ii.  83,  84; 
defeated  at  Three  Rivers,  85  ;  retreats 
to  Crown  Point,  85  ;  Washington's 
criticism  on,  176;  sickness  in  his 
camp,  222;  on  malpractices  of  con- 
tractors, 227  ;  failure  as  a  negotiator, 
258,  259;  in  brief  command  on  Long 
Island,  275;  made  prisoner,  278, 
279;  exchanged,  309  ;  under  Charles 
Lee,  iii.  66;  joins  Washington,  71, 
72;  at  Trenton,  98,  loi,  104,  no;  at 
Princeton,  137 

Tarleton,  Banastre,  iii.  67 
Tea-duty,  imposition  of,  i.  5,  92 
Thackeray,  W.  M.,  i.  210  w. 
Thomas,    General,    military  ability,   i. 
324 ;  in  siege  of  Boston,  367,  369 ;  in- 
vades Canada,  ii.  82 ;    retreats,  83 ; 
his  death,  84,  224 
Thornton,  John,  i.  116,  117 
Thurlow,  Lord,  i.  103,  104,  123 
Ticonderoga,  captured  by  Ethan  Allen, 
i.  364,  ii.  78,  79 ;   occupied  by  Gates, 
229;   American  garrison  at,  237,  329 
Tilghman,  Captain,  ii.  319  n. 
Tooke,  John  Home,  i.  20,  iii.  170  «.  3 
Townshend,  Charles,  i.  5,  74,  176 
Townshend,  Lord,  i.  125 
Transports,  life  on  British,  ii.  99,  100 
Trenton,    N.J.,     Massachusetts    dele- 
gates to  Philadelphia  Congress  at,  i. 
193;    occupied  by  Hessians,  iii.  21; 
headquarters  of  Colonel  Rail,  86-97 ; 
Washington's  victory  at,  97-124 
Trumbull,  Jonathan,  ii.  216,  iii.  125 
Tryon,  Governor,  ii.  239,  240,  310,  iii. 

96,  300 
Tubbs,  John,  iii.  196 
Tucker,  Dean,  iii.  253,  254,  309  n.  2,  319 
Turgot,  Anne  Robert  Jacques,  i.  169 
Tyler,  Professor,  i.  i  n.,  197  «.,  248  «., 
379 w.,  ii.  now.,  151  n.  2,  165  and»., 
iii.  232  n.  2,  290  n.  2,  291  n. 

Valcour  Island,  ii.  i22rm 
Van  Rensselaer  estate,  ii.  219 
Vardill,  John,  iii.  289,  290  n.  i 
Vassall,  John,  i.  187 


INDEX 


333 


Vernon,  Mount,  i.  54  n. 

Virginia,  new  Constitution  of,  ii.  129; 

Established  Church  in,  iii.  276,  318 
Virginia  Assembly,  i.  190,  192,  195 
Voltaire,  i.  69  n. 

Wagers  on  the  war,  iii.  222 

Wages  in  America,  i.  64 

Waldeckers,  ii.  43,  322,  iii.  124 

Walpole,  Horace,  on  cost  of  li\-ing  in 
England,  i.  22  ;  allusion  to,  36;  men- 
tion of  Washington,  53 ;  on  the  de- 
generacy of  English  politicians,  125, 
13s  ;  on  England's  gilded  youth,  140; 
estimate  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond, 
150;  on  oratory,  167  «. ;  end  of  his 
Parliamentary  career,  203  ;  on  Fox's 
Parliamentary  career,  205  ;  on  Gren- 
ville's  Act,  209;  on  Parliamentary 
elections,  210;  on  Enghsh  politics, 
211;  on  the  subjection  of  America, 
230;  on  Fox's  oratorj',  236;  on  the 
attitude  of  Government  toward 
America,  250;  ridicules  the  idea  of 
frightening  the  Philadelphia  Con- 
gress, 359;  his  letters  to  Mann 
quoted,  ii.  4,  5,  iii.  62,  143,  154,  155, 
221,  237 ;  on  the  letharg>'  of  the  Op- 
position, ii.  56;  on  the  Howes,  265  «. 
2;  on  the  news  of  Washington's 
retreat,  291 ;  on  Mrs.  Macaulay's 
History,  iii.  247;  on  Wesley's 
"Calm  .\ddress,"  264 

Walpole,  Thomas,  ii.  59 

Walter,  Rev.  William,  i.  376 

Warburton,  Bishop,  i.  3 

Ward,  General  Artemas,  i.  293,  300, 
310,  323,  355.  ii-  180  _ 

Warren,  James,  i.  179,  ii.  107,  108 

Warren,  John,  i.  385 

Warren,  Joseph,  i.  68,  90,  268,  273,  276, 
277,  288,  300,  306,  315,  375.  ii-  I 

Warren,  Sir  Peter,  i.  251 

Warton,  Thomas,  i.  223 

Washington,  George,  early  training  in 
warfare,  i.  53-55.  321 ;  opposition  to 
the  Stamp  Act,  74 ;  offers  to  raise 
men  for  the  relief  of  Boston,  192  ;  "a 
guiding-spirit"  at  the  Philadelphia 
Congress,   222;    popular  admiration 


for,  23s  ;  on  the  retreat  from  Lexing- 
ton, 289 ;  estimate  of  American 
forces  at  Bunker's  Hill,  312;  nomi- 
nated commander-in-chief,  320;  in 
command  at  the  siege  of  Boston, 
320-329;  correspondence  with  Gage 
and  Burgoyne,  337 ;  founds  Ameri- 
can na\-y,  341,  342;  on  the  burning 
of  Norfolk,  346,  347 ;  his  struggle 
against  difficulties,  348-356;  seizes 
and  fortiiies  Dorchester  Heights, 
356-373;  relieves  Boston,  373-390; 
sends  Benedict  Arnold  to  invade 
Canada,  ii.  79 ;  re-enforces  Sullivan, 
83,  180;  his  public  speaking,  121; 
importuned  by  William  Gordon,  123, 
350.  351;  on  Paine's  "Common 
Sense,"  152;  at  Boston,  172-179;  his 
military  talents,  175,  176;  his  New 
York  army,  180-208;  weak  in  cav- 
alry, 203,  204,  and  in  artillery,  205 ; 
disapproves  Gates's  retirement  to 
Ticonderoga,  230;  plot  to  assassi- 
nate him,  247 ;  his  position  as  servant 
of  Congress,  250;  insists  on  his  mili- 
tary title,  255-257  ;  on  Long  Island, 
269-292  ;  evacuates  New  V'ork,  296 ; 
at  Haerlem  Heights,  300;  at  White 
Plains,  312;  wholesale  desertions  of 
his  troops,  333-335.  iii-  17-19;  his 
method  of  dealing  with  marauders, 
ii.  344-346 ;  his  share  in  the  disaster 
at  Fort  Washington,  iii.  5, 1 2;  retreats 
to  New  Brunswick,  19 ;  abandons  the 
Jerseys  and  crosses  the  Delaware, 
20,  21;  badly  supported  by  Charles 
Lee,  41-56;  granted  full  powers  by 
Congress,  70,  144 ;  character  of  his 
soldiers,  80;  his  secret  intelligence, 
92-95 ;  victorious  at  Trenton,  97- 
124,  and  Princeton,  125-147;  effect 
of  his  successes  upon  his  reputation 
in  Europe  and  his  influence  in  .Vmer- 
ica,  142,  143;  he  reorganises  the 
Continental  army,  144-147;  his  re- 
ligious belief  and  practice,  308-310 

Washington,  John  .Augustine,  iii.  58 

Washington,  Martha,  i.  32' 

Washington,  Captain  William,  iii.  76, 
77.  107 


334 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 


Watson,  George,  i.  183 

Watson,  Prof.  Richard,  ii.  14 

Wayne,  Anthony,  iii.  57,  72 

Wealth,  effects  of  sudden  increase  of, 
i.  19-24 

Webster,  Daniel,  ii.  272 

Webster's  (John)  "Duchess  of  Malfi," 
quoted,  i.  71 

Wedderburn,  Alexander  (Lord  Ross- 
lyn),  i.  56,  123,  139,  161-163,  237,  24Q 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  a  strict  discipli- 
narian, iii.  36-39 

Wentworth,  John,  iii.  229,  230 

Wentvvorth,  Paul,  ii.  190,  206 

Wesley,  Rev.  John,  i.  116,  ii.  5-8,  10,  ill. 
164,  201,  259-265,  307-309 

Westchester  LoyaUsts,  ii.  333-34Q 

West  Indies,  their  interests  afifected  by 
the  war,  ii.  60,  62,  63 

West  Point,  ii.  200  n.  i 

Weymouth,  Lord,  ii.  27,  28,  31 

Whigs,  Burke's  relations  with  the, 
i.  120-133 

Whitefield,  George,  i.  47,  49.  iS9  » 


Whiteford,  Caleb,  i.  400 

Whitehead,  William,  i.  182  ».,  222,  223, 

ii.  103  n.,  iii.  175  and  n. 
White  Plains,  N.Y.,  ii.  306-322 
Wiederhold,    Lieutenant    Andreas,    iii. 

88,  89,  104,  120  «. 
Wilkes,  John,  i.  57,  132,  153.  168,  219, 

220,   237,  ii.   22,   103,   166,  iii.   171, 

183  «.,  185 
Wilkinson,  Major,  iii.  66 
Williams,  Major,  i.  316 
Williams,  Roger,  iii.  267 
Williamsburg,  Va.,  i.  192,  222 
Wilmington,  N.C.,  i.  190 
Winthrop,  John,  iii.  288  n. 
Witherspoon,  Dr.  John,  ii.  158,  iii.  31- 

33.  291 
Woburn,  Mass.,  i.  287 
Worcester,  Mass.,  i.  183,  185,  284 
Wyndham,  Sir  William,  i.  155 
Wynkoop,  Commodore,  ii.  234 

Yale   College,   plundered   by    Gov- 
ernor Tryon,  ii.  240,  iii.  277,  278  «.  i 


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